- Data indicates that Northern Ireland has a higher prevalence of MS than England and Wales, but lower than Scotland.
- Some academic studies indicate that, within the island of Ireland, MS rates tend to increase as you travel north.
- Multiple academic studies using different approaches have found that both the UK and Ireland have some of the highest rates of MS in the world. As NI has a higher prevalence of MS than both, it is clear that local rates of MS are among the highest worldwide.
As part of its promotion for a new multiple sclerosis (MS) Research Hub, Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) stated that:
“Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world, with more than 5,300 people living with the condition.”
That quotation comes from a QUB press release from 28 April while the same claim was also made on social media. This Facebook post from 29 April states:
“Did you know that Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of Multiple Sclerosis in the world?”
Is this correct?
Rates of MS are calculated by extrapolation from various sets of data. Different models can produce different results, but it is clear that Northern Ireland has a higher prevalence of MS than both the UK overall and Ireland.
Various studies indicate that both the UK and Ireland have some of the highest rates of MS in the world. Therefore, as Northern Ireland’s own rates are higher again, it is fair to say that local rates of MS are amongst the highest globally.
For more information, read on.
- Condition
Multiple sclerosis is a neurological condition that affects the brain and spinal cord. It cannot be cured but can be managed with treatment. MS is often painful and it can affect movement and sight, cause numbness and dizziness, and affect concentration and recall. It is more likely to affect women than men.
- Source
FactCheckNI contacted QUB about this claim and they provided us with various data and also directed us to work by the MS Society.
- MS in Northern Ireland
Earlier this month, the Department of Health published a Regional Review of Neurology Services ahead of a public consultation.
The report stated that around 5,400 people in NI have a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and estimated that this number will increase to around 6,000 over the next decade.
This figure is based on research from the MS Society (figures published in May 2024, using data from 2020) which found that 5,334 people in Northern Ireland have some form of MS. This represents a prevalence rate of 286 per 100,000 (or about one in every 350 people).
Those MS Society figures are based on estimates extrapolated from The Health Improvement Network (THIN) dataset. Across the UK, over 350 GP practices use THIN – a service owned by Cegedim, a healthcare data organisation. These GP practices pass anonymous data to THIN regarding the number of people diagnosed with various conditions or diseases, including MS, with the THIN database covering 15.6% of the NI population, according to the MS Society report.
Previous academic research has looked at MS prevalence in NI. A 2008 paper (Gray et al) found particularly high MS in the north east. Similar findings appeared in a 1998 report (McDonnell and Hawkins) which identified high prevalence in Coleraine, Ballymena, Ballymoney and Moyle, while a 2000 paper (also by McDonnell and Hawkins) concluded that “Northern Ireland has one of the highest and rising MS prevalence rates in the world.”
- MS in the UK
The 2024 research by the MS Society estimates the levels of MS in the nations of the UK to be:
- England – 1 in every 450 people – 222 per 100,000 people
- Wales – 1 in every 500 people – 200 per 100,000 people
- Scotland – 1 in every 300 people – 333 per 100,000 people
- Northern Ireland – 1 in every 350 people – 286 per 100,000
Northern Ireland therefore has a higher MS prevalence than Wales and England but a lower prevalence than Scotland.
- MS in the Republic of Ireland
FactCheckNI contacted MS Ireland, which collates figures on the condition in that country. However, this data is collected using a different methodology from the MS Society in the UK.
The Irish government implements a Long Term Illness Scheme in which people with a variety of conditions register to get free medications and treatment without any means testing. MS Ireland uses data from this scheme to count the number of people registered for medications that treat MS.
The most recent data is from 2023, when 10,697 were taking medication for MS. The population of Ireland in 2023 was 5.28m so this equates to an MS prevalence of 203 per 100,000 people. This tallies with some headline information available from MS Ireland.
Further to the academic papers mentioned above, some further studies indicate that, within Ireland, the prevalence of MS increases the further north you go. A 2017 paper (O’Connell et al) suggested there is a “persistent North-South gradient) in MS incidence which the researchers “considered to be due to ancestral genetic factors (Celtic in the Northwest and Anglo-Norman in the Southeast)” which can be seen in a particular haplotype (part of a chromosome). This is in line with a research paper by Dunne et al in 2006.
A 2011 report (Lonergan et al) that used data from 2007 found MS prevalence to be as high as 290 per 100,000 people in Donegal, compared to 145 per 100,000 in Wexford and 128 people per 100,000 in South Dublin, linking these differences in part to Vitamin D levels, which they said may help mitigate against the genetic factors leading to MS.
Overall, Ireland has a high prevalence of MS but not as high as Northern Ireland (although data is collected differently in both jurisdictions which may skew results one way or the other and make direct comparisons difficult). Further evidence suggests MS is more prevalent in the northern parts of the island than in the south.
- Rest of the world
The MS Trust highlights that the distribution of MS around the world is uneven:
“[Prevalence] increases as you travel further north or south from the equator. Countries that lie on the equator tend to have extremely low levels of MS, whilst places closer to the Poles such as New Zealand, Canada and Scotland have particularly high rates.”
There is a long trend of scientific research which identifies Northern Ireland as having particularly high MS rates. As early as 1951, when the prevalence of MS was just 79 per 100,00 people, Allison and Millar found that Northern Ireland had higher rates of MS than America, Canada, England, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. They said they could be certain about comparisons because data collection methods varied so much, but that the evidence “confirms the impression” of Northern Ireland as being a high MS prevalence region.
The current data reflects these early trends. The Altas of MS collates and maps MS prevalence rates globally. Their most recent data was collected “via an international online survey completed by experts in participating countries between September 2019 and March 2020.”
Survey coordinators in each country (generally representatives from MS organisations, neurologists, epidemiologists or researchers) completed the questionnaire making use of all possible sources of information available to them. 138 out of 218 countries/territories participated.
According to the Atlas of MS, the nations with the highest prevalences of the condition were Germany (300 cases per 100,000 population), Canada (290), USA (288), Norway (255), Italy (219), Finland (219), Cyprus (217), Sweden (215), Iceland (212), UK (199) and Ireland (193). On the other end of the spectrum were countries like Japan (14 cases per 100,000 population), India (11), South Africa (8) and China (3).
Based on this calculation, the UK has the tenth highest rates of MS in the world – therefore, given that NI on its own has a significantly higher prevalence than the UK in general (and the island of Ireland), Northern Ireland could be even closer to the top.
Other estimates lead to similar results. A 2025 research paper (Khan and Hashim) found that the “countries with the highest prevalence were Sweden (219 per 100,000 people), Canada (182), Norway (176), Ireland (163), and the UK (158).”
This research used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 which used estimates based on various sources including disease registries, surveys, electronic health records and other academic work. Once again, this indicates that both the UK and Ireland have high rates of MS and therefore, given that NI specifically has higher rates than both, it is fair to conclude that NI is a place with particularly high prevalence.
While different studies may produce different rates of MS prevalence, depending on how data is collected, it is clear that evidence supports the claim that Northern Ireland has one of the highest rates of MS in the world.
