Research and analysis

Confirmed cases of measles in England by month, age, region and upper-tier local authority: 2025

Updated 15 January 2026

Applies to England

England measles epidemiology 2025

This report describes measles epidemiology in England from 1 January 2025.

Situational update

In 2024 there were 2,911 laboratory confirmed measles cases in England, the highest number of cases recorded annually, since 2012. Data for 2023 and 2024 and historical data are available.

Since 1 January 2025, there have been 957 laboratory confirmed measles cases reported in England, an increase of 47 cases since the last report on 18 December 2025 (Figures 1 and 2). Measles case numbers started to increase in April 2025 with outbreaks particularly affecting London and the North West regions. However since mid-July activity has stabilised.

Summary

The number of laboratory confirmed measles cases by month of symptom onset in 2025 to date are:

• January: 88
• February: 68
• March: 68
• April: 109
• May: 130
• June: 127
• July: 119
• August: 50
• September: 29
• October: 42
• November: 69
• December: 54 (to date)

The UKHSA data dashboard provides tabular data on the total number of cases by week of onset in 2025.

The majority (655 of 957, 68%) of these cases were in children aged 10 years and under, and 25% (242 of 957) were in young people and adults aged 15 years and over (Table 1). 51% (491 of 957) of these cases have been in London, 14% (134 of 957) in the North West, and 8% (78 of 957) in the West Midlands. 100 upper tier local authorities (UTLAs) have reported at least one confirmed case with symptom onset since January 2025, with the highest numbers reported in Hackney (133 of 957, 14%), Birmingham (52 of 957, 5%) and Bristol (47 of 957, 5%) (Table 2).

The vaccination status of all confirmed cases is published quarterly in the related health protection reports.

In 2025, one acute measles-related death occurred in a child who was known to have other medical conditions. Information on historical measles-related deaths is available on the notifications and deaths webpage.

Recent activity

There have been 26 laboratory confirmed measles cases with symptom onset date in the 4 weeks since 15 December 2025. Data reporting lags have the greatest impact on the most recent 4 weeks and therefore the reported figures are likely to underestimate activity.

London accounted for the highest proportion of these cases (50%, 13 of 26). 23% (6 of 26) of cases have been in the Yorkshire and Humber, and 15% (4 of 26) in the West Midlands. 13 UTLAs have reported at least one confirmed case with symptom onset since 15 December 2025.

Figure 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by month of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: 1 January 2012 to 12 January 2026 [notes 1 and 2]

Figure 2. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by week of onset of rash or symptoms reported, London and England: 1 January 2025 to 12 January 2026 [notes 1 and 2]

Note 1: cases confirmed through either local or reference laboratory testing.

Note 2: data are provisional and subject to change as:

• more suspected cases undergo confirmatory testing
• some locally tested cases are discarded after confirmatory testing at the reference laboratory

The data reporting lag has had the greatest impact on the most recent 4 weeks and therefore the reported figures are likely to underestimate activity. For this reason, these data points are represented by dotted lines.

Table 1. Laboratory confirmed cases of measles by age group and region in England: 1 January 2025 to 12 January 2026 [note 3]

Age group	East Midlands	East of England	London	North East	North West	South East	South West	West Midlands	Yorkshire and Humber	England
less than 1 year	6	7	49	1	24	4	10	9	7	117
1 to 4 years	6	20	167	2	51	5	14	26	18	309
5 to 10 years	0	22	144	0	25	5	6	9	18	229
11 to 14 years	1	6	32	0	7	0	4	7	3	60
15 to 24 years	4	10	37	0	7	9	6	15	4	92
25 to 34 years	3	7	39	0	12	3	11	8	4	87
35 years and older	2	3	23	3	8	7	9	4	4	63
Total	22	75	491	6	134	33	60	78	58	957

Note 3: data are provisional and subject to change as:

• more suspected cases undergo confirmatory testing
• some locally tested cases are discarded after confirmatory testing at the reference laboratory

Table 2. Number of laboratory confirmed measles cases by region and upper tier local authority (UTLA), England: 1 January 2025 to 12 January 2026 [note 4]

Upper tier local authority (UTLA)	Region	Total cases
Hackney	London	133
Birmingham	West Midlands	52
Bristol	South West	47
Salford	North West	42
Haringey	London	34
Camden	London	33
Croydon	London	31
Newham	London	30
Leeds	Yorkshire and Humber	29
Islington	London	25
Hertfordshire	East of England	24
Essex	East of England	22
Harrow	London	21
Lewisham	London	21
Bradford	Yorkshire and Humber	20
Knowsley	North West	19
Manchester	North West	19
Waltham Forest	London	18
Barnet	London	16
Enfield	London	14
Wandsworth	London	12
Southwark	London	11
Staffordshire	West Midlands	11
Barking and Dagenham	London	10
Brent	London	10
Cheshire West and Chester	North West	10

Note 4: case counts have been suppressed to not present any UTLAs with fewer than 10 cases.

Data are provisional and subject to change as:

• more suspected cases undergo confirmatory testing
• some locally tested cases are discarded after obtaining further epidemiological information or undergoing confirmatory testing at the reference laboratory

This page is updated every 4 weeks. The next scheduled update is 12 February 2026.