8 September 2026
Lung Facts, the International Respiratory Coalition’s (IRC) open-access platform for respiratory disease data, has been updated with the latest evidence on lung health across Europe.
The platform provides national coalitions of health professionals, patient advocates and policymakers with a single, accessible source of epidemiological and economic data to demonstrate the scale of respiratory disease, identify priorities, and help make the case for policy action.
The latest update incorporates the most recent Global Burden of Disease data (2023) covering the WHO European region, and expands the platform’s country coverage to Armenia and Germany, which joined IRC’s network earlier in 2026.
The latest update shows that in Europe:
- Total burden of eight major lung conditions: There were an estimated 97 million cases of respiratory disease across 53 countries in the WHO European Region in 2023, with around 1.28 million deaths.
- Most prevalent diseases: Asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were among the most common conditions, with an estimated 56.2 million and 38.4 million cases, respectively.
- Highest deaths: Lung cancer accounted for more than a third of all respiratory disease deaths (495,000), followed by COPD (332,400) and lower respiratory infections (277,500).
- Economic impact: The estimated societal cost of disease burden in Europe was €794.6 billion.
How Lung Facts supports national-level lung health advocacy
Lung Facts presents findings by disease area and country to enable stakeholders and IRC national coalitions to understand the burden in their national context. It covers 14 respiratory conditions, including data on disease incidence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and estimates of the societal costs associated with lost healthy life years.
National coalitions are already using Lung Facts to support their advocacy.
In Belgium, the national respiratory coalition used Lung Facts to raise awareness and win political support for action on lung health. The coalition is now working towards a national chronic respiratory diseases plan focused on prevention, early diagnosis, treatment and long-term care.
In Poland, Lung Facts data enabled the Polish Healthy Lungs Coalition to create a ‘Manifesto for Healthy Lungs,’ which they presented in parliament; the manifesto also led to a joint ‘Letter of Intent’ between the WHO and the Polish Respiratory Society. The coalition’s efforts strengthened commitments from national and international health leaders, and helped secure permanent public funding for low-dose CT lung cancer screening nationally, making it a guaranteed part of Poland’s healthcare system for the first time.
An article in Breathe (May 2026) provides a practical guide to using Lung Facts, describing three clear applications: demonstrating disease burden, benchmarking performance across countries, and supporting investment arguments using the societal cost figures. It also includes more examples of how national coalitions across Europe are using Lung Facts in their advocacy, including in Italy, France and Ukraine.
The 2026 update gives coalitions an even stronger evidence basis to drive discussions with governments and decision-makers to set targets for change and allocate finances to alleviate the burden of lung conditions.