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A worldwide cardiac pacing and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) survey was undertaken for calendar year 2009 and compared to a similar survey conducted in 2005. There were contributions from 61 countries: 25 from Europe, 20 from the Asia Pacific region, seven from the Middle East and Africa, and nine from the Americas. The 2009 survey involved 1,002,664 pacemakers, with 737,840 new implants and 264,824 replacements. The United States of America (USA) had the largest number of cardiac pacemaker implants (225,567) and Germany the highest new implants per million population (927). Virtually all countries showed increases in implant numbers over the 4 years between surveys. High-degree atrioventricular block and sick sinus syndrome remain the major indications for implantation of a cardiac pacemaker. There remains a high percentage of VVI(R) pacing in the developing countries, although compared to the 2005 survey, virtually all countries had increased the percentage of DDDR implants. Pacing leads were predominantly transvenous, bipolar, and active fixation. The survey also involved 328,027 ICDs, with 222,407 new implants and 105,620 replacements. Virtually all countries surveyed showed a significant rise in the use of ICDs with the largest implanter being the USA (133,262) with 434 new implants per million population. This was the largest pacing and ICD survey ever performed, because of mainly a group of loyal enthusiastic survey coordinators. It encompasses more than 80% of all the pacemakers and ICDs implanted worldwide during 2009., (©2011, The Authors. Journal compilation ©2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)