Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) affected an estimated 1.6% of U.S. adults in 2023–2024, or about 4.1 million people who had ever received an IBD diagnosis. The category includes Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The statistics below distinguish recent U.S. estimates, older Medicare and health-care-use measures, and modeled global estimates from 1990 and 2019.
Contents
- Current U.S. adult prevalence
- Age, sex, and race or Hispanic origin
- Older Medicare beneficiaries
- Geographic and long-term U.S. trends
- Health-care utilization
- Global burden
Current U.S. adult prevalence
The newest U.S. estimates come from the National Health Interview Survey for 2023–2024. They measure whether a civilian, noninstitutionalized adult age 18 or older had ever been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, or either condition. That definition is important: these are ever-diagnosed prevalence estimates, not counts of newly diagnosed cases during the two-year period.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 0.5% of U.S. adults had ever been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 2023–2024, representing about 1.3 million adults. Ulcerative colitis was more prevalent in the same measure: 1.2% of adults, or about 3.1 million people. Overall, 1.6% of adults had ever been diagnosed with IBD, representing about 4.1 million adults. CDC, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Adults Age 18 and Older: United States, 2023–2024
| Condition | U.S. adults with an ever-diagnosis, 2023–2024 | Approximate number of adults |
|---|---|---|
| Crohn’s disease | 0.5% | 1.3 million |
| Ulcerative colitis | 1.2% | 3.1 million |
| Inflammatory bowel disease overall | 1.6% | 4.1 million |
These figures describe diagnosed disease in the adult population covered by the survey. They should not be interpreted as a measurement of active symptoms, disease severity, or the number of people who developed IBD during 2023–2024. They also do not represent a 2026 measurement.
Age, sex, and race or Hispanic origin
The 2023–2024 adult estimates varied by age. Among adults ages 18–29, Crohn’s disease prevalence was 0.3%, ulcerative colitis prevalence was 0.4%, and overall IBD prevalence was 0.7%. Among adults ages 50–59, the corresponding estimates were 0.5%, 1.5%, and 1.9%. Among adults age 70 and older, they were 0.6%, 2.2%, and 2.7%. CDC, Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Adults Age 18 and Older: United States, 2023–2024
| Adult age group | Crohn’s disease | Ulcerative colitis | IBD overall |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18–29 | 0.3% | 0.4% | 0.7% |
| 50–59 | 0.5% | 1.5% | 1.9% |
| 70 and older | 0.6% | 2.2% | 2.7% |
Sex differences were small for Crohn’s disease in this dataset: 0.5% of U.S. men and 0.5% of U.S. women had ever been diagnosed. For ulcerative colitis, the estimates were 1.0% among men and 1.4% among women. Overall IBD prevalence was 1.4% among men and 1.7% among women.
The available race and Hispanic-origin estimates also differed. Among non-Hispanic White adults, Crohn’s disease prevalence was 0.6%, ulcerative colitis prevalence was 1.4%, and overall IBD prevalence was 1.9%. Overall IBD prevalence was 1.2% among Hispanic adults, 0.9% among non-Hispanic Black adults, and 0.9% among non-Hispanic Asian adults. These are population-level estimates and do not explain why the observed percentages differ.
Older Medicare beneficiaries
A separate CDC analysis examined Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries age 67 and older in 2018. Because this population and coverage definition differ from the national adult survey, the results are not directly interchangeable with the 2023–2024 civilian, noninstitutionalized adult estimates.
In 2018, Crohn’s disease was diagnosed in 0.40% of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries age 67 and older, while ulcerative colitis was diagnosed in 0.64%. Within the age categories reported, Crohn’s disease prevalence was 0.42% among beneficiaries ages 67–74. Ulcerative colitis prevalence was 0.70% among beneficiaries ages 75–84. Among beneficiaries age 85 and older, Crohn’s disease prevalence was 0.32% and ulcerative colitis prevalence was 0.65%.
The same analysis reported sex-specific estimates for the older Medicare population. Crohn’s disease prevalence was 0.43% among female beneficiaries age 67 and older, and ulcerative colitis prevalence was 0.61% among male beneficiaries in that age range. CDC, Prevalence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Medicare Fee-For-Service Beneficiaries — United States, 2001–2018
These Medicare figures are diagnosed-prevalence measures within a defined insurance population. They are not estimates of all older U.S. adults, and the source does not make them a current 2026 prevalence estimate.
Geographic and long-term U.S. trends
In 2018, age-adjusted Crohn’s disease prevalence among U.S. states ranged from 0.17% in Hawaii to 0.62% in Rhode Island. Age-adjusted ulcerative colitis prevalence ranged from 0.37% in Hawaii to 0.91% in New Jersey. Age adjustment helps compare state estimates while accounting for differences in age distribution, but these state figures still describe 2018 rather than current prevalence.
The Medicare analysis also reported long-term increases from 2001 through 2018. Among Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, overall Crohn’s disease prevalence increased at an annual percentage change of 3.4%. Overall ulcerative colitis prevalence increased at an annual percentage change of 2.8% during the same period.
The reported changes were larger for non-Hispanic Black Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries: Crohn’s disease prevalence increased at an annual percentage change of 5.0% from 2001 through 2018, while ulcerative colitis prevalence increased at 3.5%. An annual percentage change summarizes a trend across the study period; it is not a claim that the same increase occurred in every individual year or that it predicts a future rate. CDC, Prevalence of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Among Medicare Fee-For-Service Beneficiaries — United States, 2001–2018
Health-care utilization
Older national survey data show the extent of reported health-care use among U.S. adults with IBD. In 2015–2016, 92.6% had seen or talked to a health professional during the previous 12 months. A specialist had been seen or contacted by 57.9%, and 18.8% had seen or talked to a mental health professional.
Medication use was also common: 86.0% of adults with IBD reported having been prescribed medication during the previous 12 months. In the same period, 57.7% had four or more office visits with a health professional, and 5.9% had received a home visit from a health professional.
Hospital-related measures were lower than routine professional contact but still substantial. During the previous 12 months, 34.5% had visited a hospital emergency room, 17.3% had an overnight hospital stay, and 22.0% had surgery or another surgical procedure. CDC, Health care utilization among U.S. adults with inflammatory bowel disease, 2015–2016
The utilization source reports all health-care use, not only care caused by IBD. The estimates are older self-reported National Health Interview Survey measures, so they should not be presented as current utilization rates or as a direct measure of disease severity.
After adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic factors, adults with IBD had a specialist-visit prevalence ratio of 1.98 compared with adults without IBD in 2015–2016. Their emergency-room-visit prevalence ratio was 1.65. These ratios compare the prevalence of reported visits between groups after adjustment; they do not indicate that every person with IBD had nearly two specialist visits or 1.65 emergency-room visits.
Global burden
Global figures from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 are modeled estimates, not forecasts and not 2026 measurements. They use age-standardized rates where stated, which supports comparison across years with different population age structures.
The global age-standardized prevalence rate of IBD was 73.23 per 100,000 people in 1990 and 59.25 per 100,000 in 2019. The global age-standardized death rate was 0.67 per 100,000 in 1990 and 0.54 per 100,000 in 2019. The age-standardized disability-adjusted life-year rate was 27.20 per 100,000 in 1990 and 20.15 per 100,000 in 2019. GBD 2019 analysis, Global, regional and national burden of inflammatory bowel disease in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019
| Global measure | 1990 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| Age-standardized prevalence rate | 73.23 per 100,000 | 59.25 per 100,000 |
| Age-standardized death rate | 0.67 per 100,000 | 0.54 per 100,000 |
| Age-standardized disability-adjusted life-year rate | 27.20 per 100,000 | 20.15 per 100,000 |
The same analysis estimated 24,295 deaths from IBD worldwide in 1990 and 40,998 deaths in 2019. Those are estimated numbers of deaths, while the rates above are age-standardized measures; the two types of figures should not be treated as interchangeable.
Regional estimates also varied. Western Europe had about 1.03 million prevalent IBD cases in 2019. High-income Asia Pacific had the highest regional age-standardized IBD prevalence rate in 2019, at 210.54 per 100,000 people. These modeled regional results describe the study’s 2019 estimates and do not provide a forecast of future global burden.