Matt Fillingim, Etienne Vachon-Presseau, and colleagues analysed self-reported pain data collected between 1990 and 2025 from 6,125,459 people aged 5 to over 100 years, across 118 countries and territories. Pain prevalence ranged from around 2% for facial pain to 40% for back pain. Pain was higher in women than men across all 11 body areas studied, with the largest differences seen for facial pain, headaches, and stomach or abdominal pain.

Across all body areas pain prevalence rose most sharply before age 55, although patterns differed by body area: headaches and abdominal pain peaked earlier in life, while back, hip, and knee pain continued to increase with age. From age 40, pain anywhere in the body, joint, and back pain increased more rapidly in countries with lower Human Development Index (HDI) values. By age 80 or older, the prevalence of any bodily pain was around 31 percentage points higher in countries with lower HDI values than in those with higher HDI values, and low back pain was nearly twice as common. Known risk factors, including smoking, obesity and low income, explained less of the pain burden in lower-development settings; the reasons for these higher levels of pain are unclear.