Almost Half World’s Farmers Poisoned By Pesticides Every Year: Experts

"Study reveals that pesticide poisoning kills 11,000 people each year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of fatalities"

"Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found.

Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year.

Based on a worldwide farming population of 934 million, this means approximately 46% of farmers are being poisoned every year. The greatest estimated number of poisonings was in southern Asia, followed by south-east Asia and east Africa.

The overall highest national incidence of poisoning was in Burkina Faso in west Africa, where nearly 84% of farmers and farm workers were reported to have experienced poisoning."

Pippa Neill reports for the Guardian September 2, 2026.

Source: Guardian, 09/03/2026