This paper estimates the disease burden and loss of economic output associated with chronic diseases—mainly
cardiovascular diseases, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes—in 23 selected countries which account for
around 80% of the total burden of chronic disease mortality in developing countries. In these 23 selected low-income
and middle-income countries, chronic diseases were responsible for 50% of the total disease burden in 2005. For 15 of
the selected countries where death registration data are available, the estimated age-standardised death rates for
chronic diseases in 2005 were 54% higher for men and 86% higher for women than those for men and women in
high-income countries. If nothing is done to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, an estimated US$84 billion of
economic production will be lost from heart disease, stroke, and diabetes alone in these 23 countries between 2006
and 2015. Achievement of a global goal for chronic disease prevention and control—an additional 2% yearly reduction
in chronic disease death rates over the next 10 years—would avert 24 million deaths in these countries, and would save
an estimated $8 billion, which is almost 10% of the projected loss in national income over the next 10 years.