Annual data published by the UK Health Security Agency on 29 October 2026 show that tuberculosis notifications in England in 2025 were 5,449, remaining level with 5,485 in 2024 after earlier increases of 4,380 in 2022 and 4,831 in 2023. The 2025 notification rate was 9.26 per 100,000 population, similar to 9.36 per 100,000 in 2024. The agency said substantial declines are still needed to tackle TB as a public health issue in England.

Provisional data for the first three quarters of 2026 suggest notifications are falling, down 8.2% compared with the same period in 2025. In 2025, 82.3% of notifications were in people born outside the UK, compared with 82% in 2024. Rates remained highest in urban areas, with the most notifications in London at 20.2 per 100,000. The disparity between socioeconomic groups grew: among people in the 10% most deprived areas of England, notifications rose from 14.5 per 100,000 in 2019 to 17.5 in 2024 and 19.4 in 2025. People in the most deprived areas were 6.9 times more likely to be diagnosed with TB than those in the least deprived areas in 2025. Among UK-born individuals, TB remained broadly stable in people experiencing homelessness, drug or alcohol dependency, and contact with the criminal justice system.

Multi-drug resistant TB accounted for 2.1% of notifications in 2025, compared with 2.2% in 2024. Dr Esther Robinson, Head of the TB Unit at UKHSA, said TB remains a serious public health issue and stressed awareness of symptoms, prompt testing and treatment, noting that a cough with mucus lasting longer than 3 weeks can have causes other than flu or COVID-19. Work is ongoing on a new TB National Action Plan focused on prevention, detection and control and on addressing health inequalities; the current plan remains available until publication.