Headache disorders are among the world's most common neurological conditions. [Courtesy]
A headache is one of those pains we often learn to ignore. It may follow a long day, too little sleep, an empty stomach, or a stressful morning.
You drink some water, take paracetamol or ibuprofen and wait for it to pass.
Most headaches are not signs of something serious, but sometimes the pain can point to what is happening in the body.
Headache disorders are among the world’s most common neurological conditions. The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that they affected about 40 per cent of the world’s population, or 3.1 billion people, in 2021.
A 2025 Global Burden of Disease analysis estimated that 2.9 billion people experienced a headache disorder in 2023, representing 34.6 per cent of the global population.
Tension-type headache was the most common, while migraine caused the greatest share of disability. The burden was also more than twice as high among women as men.