Around 207,500 people died of measles in the past year, according to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US health authority CDC.
The death toll rose by 50 percent compared to 2016.
"Those were deaths that could have been prevented," said WHO expert Natasha Crowcroft.
In total, almost 870,000 people were registered in the previous year who had become infected with the highly contagious virus.
As many as not since 1996.
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Evolutionary history: Measles virus appeared 1400 years earlier than assumed
Fatal complications can occur with measles, which is considered a childhood disease.
Until the introduction of a vaccine in 1963, according to the WHO, around 2.6 million people worldwide died of measles every year.
According to the WHO, major outbreaks occurred in nine countries in 2019.
For example in the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Kazakhstan or the Ukraine.
In several countries, according to the WHO, too few children received the two vaccinations required for immunization on time.
Experts fear even worse vaccination rates in countries with poor health care as a result of the corona pandemic.
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