Experts modelled mortality because of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using a standard Cause of Death Ensemble model including data mainly from vital registrations in order to report the prevalence, mortality, and overall burden of IBD in 195 countries and territories between 1990 and 2017, on the basis of data from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017. In 2017, there were 6·8 million cases of IBD worldwide. The age-standardized prevalence rate rose from 79·5 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 84·3 per 100,000 population in 2017. The age-standardized death rate declined from 0·61 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 0·51 per 100,000 population in 2017. High Socio-demographic Index (SDI) locations had the highest and the low SDI regions had the lowest age-standardized prevalence rate. The total YLDs attributed to IBD nearly doubled over the study period, from 0·56 million in 1990 to 1·02 million in 2017. The age-standardized rate of DALYs reduced from 26·5 per 100,000 population in 1990 to 23·2 per 100,000 population in 2017. In many regions from 1990 to 2017, the prevalence of IBD rose substantially, which might act a substantial social and economic burden on governments and health systems in the coming years. These findings could be beneficial for policy makers developing approaches to control IBD, including the education of specialized personnel to discuss the burden of this complex disease.