• A rare disease is any disease, disorder, or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 (U.S.)
• There may be as many as 7,000 rare diseases 
• Rare disease impacts more people than cancer and AIDS combined
• 400 million people have a rare disease worldwide (greater than the population of the U.S.)
• 25-30 million Americans are living with a rare disease, that’s 1 in 10 Americans 
• 80% of rare diseases are genetic
• 70% of those genetic rare diseases start in childhood 
• 1 in 2 patients diagnosed with a rare disease is a child, that’s 15 million U.S. children
• For many rare diseases, signs may be observed at birth or in childhood
• All pediatric cancers are rare
• 95% of rare diseases lack an FDA approved treatment
• 50% of rare diseases don’t have a foundation or research group 

Source: “Rare Facts,” Globalgenes.com, 2019, https://globalgenes.org/rare-facts/ , “Rare-Disease Facts,” Rarediseases.org, https://rarediseases.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/nord-rareinsights-rd-facts-2019.pdf