This is the eighteenth global report on tuberculosis (TB) published by WHO in a series that started in 1997. It provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the TB epidemic and progress in implementing and financing TB prevention, care and control at global, regional and country levels using data reported by almost 200 countries that account for over 99% of the world's TB cases. Two years before the 2015 deadline for achievement of global TB targets, the 2013 report includes a special supplement that assesses progress towards the 2015 targets and the actions needed to accelerate towards or move beyond them. The report has 8 main chapters. The introductory chapter provides general background on TB as well as an explanation of global targets for TB control, the WHO's Stop TB Strategy that covers the period 2006-2015 and the development of a post-2015 global TB strategy. The remaining seven chapters cover the disease burden caused by TB (incidence, prevalence, mortality); TB case notifications and treatment outcomes; drug resistance surveillance among TB patients and the programmatic response in detecting and providing treatment for multidrug-resistant TB; diagnostics and laboratory strengthening for TB; addressing the co-epidemics of TB and HIV; financing TB care and control; and research and development for new TB diagnostics, drugs and vaccines.The four annexes of the report include a thorough explanation of methods used to estimate the burden of disease caused by TB, one-page profiles for 22 high TB-burden countries, and tables of data on key indicators for all countries organized by WHO region.