Introduction: Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is responsible for the majority of disability-adjusted life years and is a leading cause of mortality. This impact justifies having up-to-date data on its incidence.

Patients and methods: We conducted a systematic review of the studies published since 2010 that provided information on the crude incidence rate (CIR) and adjusted incidence rate of CVD during the second decade of the 21st century.

Results: Thirty-five articles were identified. Twenty-eight provided information on the overall incidence of CVD, 19 on the incidence of ischaemic stroke (IS), 19 on the incidence of haemorrhagic stroke (HS) and 10 on the incidence of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). The incidence was heterogeneous across countries. Thus, the median CIR was 149.5 - confidence interval 95% (CI 95%): 122-256 - cases per 100,000 inhabitants for CVD; 155 (CI 95%: 95.6-246.12) for SI; 29 (CI 95%: 19-43) for HS; and 6.5 (CI 95%: 4.8-13.5) for SAH. The incidence for both CVD and IS and HS was higher in men than in women in most studies, with the exception of some Asian, European and North American studies. The majority of studies showed a decreasing or stabilising trend in incidence, with the exception of studies conducted in China, Singapore, France and Australia.

Conclusion: There are few studies that analyse the incidence of CVD and even fewer that analyse its evolution. The overall median remains high, although the figures are heterogeneous across studies. Worldwide the trend is towards its decrease, and there are geographical areas, especially in Asia, with an alarming upward trend.