“The 2003 survey in India estimated that there were 17 million dog bites annually, translating to approximately 15 per 100,000 people. These dog bites were responsible for an estimated 17,000 to 20,000 human deaths from rabies. At that time, India accounted for about one-third of the global rabies burden, with over 95% of human rabies cases occurring after a dog bite incident.

In 2025, a follow-up survey on rabies incidence in India was published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The study surveyed 78,807 households nationwide from March 2022 through August 2023. It estimated the annual rate of dog bites at 5.6 per 100,000 people, resulting in 9.1 million bites, and reported 5,726 annual human deaths from rabies. This indicates that the incidence of dog bites in India has decreased by two-thirds over the twenty years from 2003 to 2023, while human rabies deaths in the country have declined by approximately 75%.”

From WellBeing International.