27 Chronic Pain Statistics We Need to Know in 2024
written by / January 8, 2022
Unlike acute pain, which only lasts for a short period of time after an injury, chronic pain persists for weeks, months, and sometimes years.
Living with chronic pain is difficult. It has a negative impact on a person’s quality of life, mood, and stamina and leads to stress and poor health.
Unlike acute pain, which only lasts for a short period of time after an injury, chronic pain persists for weeks, months, and sometimes years.
Living with chronic pain is difficult. It has a negative impact on a person’s quality of life, mood, and stamina and leads to stress and poor health.
You shouldn’t let pain control your life, so read on to learn more chronic pain statistics and facts. They’ll help you learn how common this ailment is as well as improve your understanding of chronic pain disorders and pain management.
The Top 10 Chronic Pain Stats and Facts to Remember
- Chronic pain affected 20.4% of adults throughout the world in 2019.
- 20% of adults in America feel pain every day.
- Chronic pain is the number-one cause of long-term disability in America.
- Advanced age is a key factor in experiencing chronic pain.
- 70% of people affected by chronic pain syndrome are women.
- 24% of Americans who didn’t finish high school suffer from chronic pain.
- Chronic lower back pain is the most common type of chronic pain.
- 50% of adults claim to suffer from chronic headaches.
- Chronic pain costs reach $635 billion a year.
- 36 million Americans missed work due to high-impact chronic pain in a one-year period.
Chronic Pain Statistics Worldwide
Here, we’ll be looking at chronic pain throughout the world.
1. Chronic pain affected 20.4% of adults throughout the world in 2019.
(CDC)
In addition to this, 7.4% of adults globally suffered from chronic pain that made it difficult to operate from day to day. Their chronic pain impaired their ability to live on their own or work full time. Chronic pain includes back pain, headaches, and chronic lower back pain.
2. Chronic pain affects 20% of Europeans.
(European Pain Federation)
Around 80 million adults in Europe experience chronic pain. According to the statistics, it’s estimated that chronic pain accounts for the loss of 500 million hours of work a year in Europe. This costs the budget approximately €300 billion, almost 3% of the GDP.
Chronic Pain Statistics in the US
In this section, we’ll be discussing chronic pain in the United States.
3. 20% of adults in America feel pain every day.
(American Council on Science and Health)
A new study showed that a little less than 20% of Americans feel pain that lasts for more than 24 hours. Chronic pain, in this case, occurs most days or even every day over a six-month period.
4. 50 million Americans are affected by chronic pain.
(CDC)
According to the statistics for 2018, 50 million US citizens, or a little over 20% of adults, are living with chronic pain. In fact, the overall chronic pain prevalence in the US is higher than that of diabetes, heart disease, and cancer combined.
5. Chronic pain is the number-one cause of long-term disability in America.
(The Good Body)
Americans cite conditions arising from chronic pain as the most common cause of long-term disability.
6. Over two-thirds of all deaths in the US are caused by a chronic disease.
(Healthline)
Chronic diseases account for seven out of ten deaths in the US. Every year, 1.7 million Americans die of the top five chronic diseases: heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Who Suffers from Chronic Pain?
What groups of people suffer the most from chronic pain? In this section, we’ll be covering the types of people who are more likely to suffer from chronic pain.
7. People aged 45 and over are more likely to suffer from lower back pain.
(CDC)
As people age, there’s a greater risk of being affected by conditions that produce a chronic pain disorder. Actually, Americans aged between 18 and 44 are less likely to develop lower back pain than those 45 years of age and over. However, regardless of age, all back pain sufferers should get a supportive mattress that will keep their spine naturally aligned.
8. 27.6% of adults aged 65 to 84 suffered from chronic pain in 2016.
(U.S. Pharmacist)
In addition, the prevalence of chronic pain in older adults aged 85 and older was even higher (33.6%). Therefore, this study clearly showed that advanced age is a key factor in experiencing chronic pain.
9. 70% of people affected by chronic pain syndrome are women.
(Harvard Health Publishing)
Chronic pain statistics show that both chronic and high-impact chronic pain are more prevalent among women. What’s more, women are more at risk of developing the four most common types of chronic pain and are twice as likely to be affected by migraines and facial pain than men. In fact, 85% of chronic migraine sufferers are women, and around a quarter of women suffer from severe headaches at some point in their lives.
10. 24% of Americans who didn’t finish high school suffer from chronic pain.
(CDC)
Surprisingly, there’s evidence of a connection between one’s level of education and persistent pain. US adults with a completed bachelor’s degree or higher show a lower prevalence of chronic pain (12.4%) than those who haven’t finished high school.
11. Smokers account for 50% of patients with chronic pain syndrome.
(Healthline)
Experts believe that smoking seems to deteriorate the condition of people with arthritis and other chronic pain diseases, and it makes them more susceptible to chronic pain.
12. There’s a close link between chronic pain and poverty.
(CDC)
For chronic pain sufferers, the statistics show that almost 30% of people with chronic pain and around 18% of those affected by high-impact chronic pain have a greater economic disadvantage than the 15% of chronic pain patients and the 4% of high-impact chronic pain sufferers who are more financially secure.
13. 21% of chronic pain patients are non-Hispanic whites.
(U.S. Pharmacist)
The chronic pain statistics from a 2019 survey revealed that adult whites are closely followed by non-Hispanic blacks (17.8%) and Hispanics (16.7%), with other non-Hispanics ranking last.
14. Obesity may lead to a chronic pain disorder.
(Healthline)
Approximately 50% of obese people seeking medical help claim to have experienced mild to severe pain.
15. Americans with chronic pain have a 42-minute sleep debt.
(National Sleep Foundation)
There’s a close relationship between sleep and chronic pain. Chronic pain significantly affects the difference between the amount of sleep people need and the amount they get. Just for comparison, the acute pain statistics indicate that people suffering from acute pain only report a 14-minute sleep gap. Additionally, only 37% of Americans with chronic pain stated that they have a good or very good quality of sleep.
16. One in four people with chronic pain is diagnosed with a sleep disorder.
(NCBI)
45.5% of those suffering from chronic pain suffer from a sleep disorder, while about a quarter—just over 26%—of chronic pain patients have been diagnosed with clinical insomnia.
The Most Common Types of Chronic Pain
Chronic pain can come in different forms and affect different parts of the body. Here, we’ll be looking at the most common types of chronic pain.
17. Chronic lower back pain is the most common type of chronic pain.
(Pain Doctor)
27% of US citizens with chronic pain suffer from lower back pain, 15% are affected by chronic neck pain, and only 4% suffer from facial pain. In addition, according to low-back pain statistics, the number of Americans whose daily activities were impaired by lower back pain rose from a little less than 4% in 1992 to 10.2% in 2006. It’s also estimated that 84% of adults will experience chronic back pain at some point in their lives.
18. One-half of all working Americans say they experience lower back pain every year.
(American Chiropractic Association)
Back pain statistics indicate that this type of pain is the most common reason for Americans taking a day off work, and it accounts for 264 million lost workdays in a single year country-wide. Chronic back pain is also number three on the list of reasons people have to visit the doctor’s office.
19. 50% of adults claim to suffer from chronic headaches.
(World Health Organization)
Most pain statistics indicate that three-quarters of adults from the ages of 18 to 65 worldwide have suffered from headaches, while 30% of them report chronic migraines. An astonishing 4% of adults across the globe say they experience chronic daily migraines for 15 or more days each month.
20. Migraine is the third most common illness worldwide.
(Migraine Research Foundation)
Surprisingly, 12% of the population suffers from migraines. In the US alone, 18% of women, 6% of men, and 10% of children have reported chronic migraine pain.
High-Impact Chronic Pain
Whether we’re looking at statistics on headaches or neck pain statistics, high-impact chronic pain is a severe form of chronic pain that can impair your daily life.
21. 8% of Americans suffer from high-impact chronic pain.
(National Institutes of Health)
19.6 million adults in America are affected by high-impact chronic pain. So what is high-impact chronic pain? It’s defined as pain that lasts for 3 months or longer and restricts at least one major life activity, such as going to work or completing household chores.
22. One-third of people with high-impact chronic pain are unable to take care of themselves.
(National Institutes of Health)
In addition, about 83% of Americans with high-impact chronic pain can’t work, according to the chronic pain facts. They report higher levels of anxiety and fatigue, as well as more severe pain, poor health, and an increased use of health care services.
The Impact of Chronic Pain on Our Daily Lives
How does chronic pain affect people in their everyday lives? In this section, we’ll be exploring the effects of chronic pain.
23. Chronic pain impacts the quality of life of 2 out of 5 adults.
(The Good Body)
Ongoing pain has a devastating effect on people’s health, emotions, sleep, and ability to work. It’s reported that as many as 20% of people with chronic pain in the US have taken disability leave from work, while 17% have changed jobs due to pain. Another 13% suffering from high-impact chronic pain need professional help or to move to a more manageable home.
24. Drugs only help 58% of chronic pain sufferers.
(WebMD)
Despite extensive research into chronic pain management, little progress has been made to deal with the issue.
25. There’s a clear relationship between chronic pain and depression.
(Healthline)
Chronic pain and depression statistics reveal that 77% of people suffer from depression as a result of feeling constant high-impact pain.
26. Chronic pain costs reach $635 billion a year.
(American Health & Drug Benefits)
Economists estimate that chronic pain treatment costs combined with lost productivity reach $560 to $635 billion a year. In other words, chronic pain costs every US citizen approximately $2,000 a year. This is higher than the annual costs for heart diseases, diabetes, and cancer combined.
27. 36 million Americans missed work due to high-impact chronic pain in a one-year period.
(The Good Body)
Data shows that workers lose an average of 4.6 hours of productive time in a week as a result of chronic pain conditions.
In Conclusion
Chronic pain is a serious health condition that has far-reaching consequences on every aspect of daily life. It impairs people’s ability to work, socialize, sleep, and function properly.
But don’t despair. There are many pain management tools that can help you stop pain from limiting your day-to-day activities. Hopefully, these chronic pain statistics leading up to 2022 will shed some light on the causes and risk factors of chronic pain conditions and help people get the help they need.
