China to carry half of global hepatitis C burden by 2035, report says

Roughly 70% of acute hepatitis C infections progress to chronic infection.

China is expected to carry the largest burden of diagnosed chronic hepatitis C cases amongst the world's eight major markets by 2035, with just over 3.9 million diagnosed prevalent cases.

In a report, GlobalData said that figure represents more than half of the total 7.46 million diagnosed prevalent cases forecast across the 8MM (the US, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Japan and China) by 2035, up from 7.19 million in 2025.

By comparison, the United States is estimated to have approximately 2.11 million diagnosed prevalent cases in 2035, with Japan at 767,000 and the 5 EU countries at 679,000.

The report notes that roughly 70% of acute hepatitis C infections progress to chronic infection, lasting beyond six months.

On genotype distribution, genotype 1 accounted for the majority of diagnosed prevalent cases across markets, with the US recording the highest proportion, linked to transmission through contaminated blood transfusions, unsafe drug practices and injection drug use.