Global anemia prevalence, total YLD, and mean DW, by severity, from 1990 to 2010. Global anemia burden was calculated for each year from 1980 through 2010 (1980-1990 not shown). Prevalence rates decreased from 40.2% to 32.9% from 1990 to 2010. Roughly two thirds of this decrease can be attributed to decreased sex- and cause-specific rates of diseases that lead to anemia. The remaining one third of the decrease was associated with population aging. Total anemia burden, as measured in YLD increased from 65.5 to 68.3 million YLD (8.8% of global total from all conditions) from 1990 to 2010. Without dramatic decreases in age-, sex- and cause-specific disease rates, population growth would have led to a much greater increase in total anemia YLD. Mean severity of anemia cases, as measured by mean DW, decreased for females from 1990 to 2010, but not for males.