Summary Globally, in 2019, occupational risks contributed to 951 000 deaths (95% UI 827 000–1 090 000) in males and 269 000 deaths (213 000–332 000) in females. About two-thirds of these deaths were from non-communicable diseases and one-third from injuries.
Definition Occupational risks constitute an aggregation of all individual occupational risks modelled as Level 3 risk factors. These include occupational injuries; ergonomic factors; and occupational exposure to particulate matter, fumes and gases, carcinogens, noise, and asthmagens.
Total sources | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Exposure | 2485 | |||||||||||
Relative risk | 21 | |||||||||||
Table 1:
Total sources used in GBD 2019 estimation
What is new in GBD 2019?
- •New International Labour Organization employment data, comprising 1197 new unique location-years, including 174 unique locations and 13 unique years (2006–2018), were included.
- •Estimation of missing employment data was improved by changing covariates to education (years per capita), government expenditure, and Muslim proportion of the population (for females only).
- •The covariate used in model for percentage of people working in the mining industry was changed to asbestos consumption (metric tons per year) per capita, which improved predictions.
- •The MR-BRT tool was used to adjust for inconsistencies in data sources for fatal injuries.
Deaths
|
YLLs
|
YLDs
|
DALYs
|
|||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Number
(millions) |
Rate (per
100 000) |
Number
(millions) |
Rate (per
100 000) |
Number
(millions) |
Rate (per
100 000) |
Number
(millions) |
Rate (per
100 000) |
|||||
2019 | ||||||||||||
Both Sexes | 1·22 (1·08 to 1·37) |
15·3 (13·5 to 17·3) |
32·9 (30·0 to 35·9) |
405·8 (369·0 to 442·7) |
33·2 (24·3 to 43·2) |
401·6 (293·4 to 522·2) |
66·1 (56·4 to 76·0) |
807·5 (690·1 to 927·8) |
||||
Females | 0·269 (0·213 to 0·332) |
6·2 (4·9 to 7·7) |
6·14 (5·25 to 7·16) |
144·7 (124·1 to 168·6) |
13·0 (9·52 to 16·9) |
311·6 (227·3 to 404·6) |
19·1 (15·5 to 23·2) |
456·3 (370·2 to 553·6) |
||||
Males | 0·951 (0·827 to 1·09) |
26·2 (22·3 to 30·4) |
26·8 (24·1 to 29·5) |
685·6 (614·9 to 757·6) |
20·2 (14·7 to 26·2) |
494·7 (361·9 to 640·5) |
47·0 (40·1 to 53·4) |
1180·3 (1010·1 to 1336·0) |
||||
Percentage change 2010-19 | ||||||||||||
Both Sexes | 4·1% (–2·6 to 11·1) |
–16·8% (–21·9 to –11·5) |
–3·3% (–9·9 to 3·4) |
–18·6% (–24·1 to –13·1) |
11·1% (8·8 to 13·8) |
–5·1% (–7·0 to –3·1) |
3·4% (–0·8 to 7·7) |
–12·4% (–15·9 to –8·7) |
||||
Females | 7·8% (–3·8 to 19·7) |
–15·3% (–23·9 to –5·8) |
0·4% (–9·8 to 11·9) |
–17·2% (–25·4 to –7·8) |
13·0% (10·3 to 16·0) |
–3·5% (–5·7 to –1·1) |
8·7% (4·4 to 13·3) |
–8·3% (–12·0 to –4·3) |
||||
Males | 3·1% (–4·6 to 11·0) |
–17·7% (–23·4 to –11·8) |
–4·1% (–11·5 to 3·9) |
–19·1% (–25·1 to –12·6) |
9·8% (6·9 to 13·1) |
–6·2% (–8·6 to –3·7) |
1·4% (–3·8 to 6·9) |
–14·2% (–18·5 to –9·6) |
||||
Numbers in parentheses are 95% uncertainty intervals. |
Table 2:
Attributable global deaths, YLLs, YLDs, and DALYs in counts and age-standardised rates for both sexes combined, females, and males, 2019, with percentage change between 2010 and 2019
Deaths | YLLs | YLDs | DALYs | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1990 | 13th | 12th | 2nd | 11th | ||||||||
2010 | 14th | 14th | 4th | 13th | ||||||||
2019 | 13th | 14th | 5th | 12th | ||||||||
Table 3:
Rank among attributable Level 2 risks of global deaths, YLLs, YLDs, and DALYs in 1990, 2010, and 2019 for both sexes combined

Figure 1:
Composition of attributable global DALYs by constituent Level 2 causes for both sexes combined, 2019

Figure 2:
Composition of attributable global DALYs by YLLs and YLDs, age group, and sex, 2019


Figure 3:
Age-standardised all-cause SEV by location, both sexes combined, 2019


Figure 4:
Percentage change in all-cause age-standardised SEV by SDI, both sexes combined, 1990–2019