BackgroundPulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is a major source of global morbidity and mortality. Latent infection has enabled it to spread to a quarter of the world's population. The late 1980s and early 1990s saw an increase in the number of TB cases related to the HIV epidemic, and the spread of multidrug-resistant TB. Few studies have reported pulmonary TB mortality trends. Our study reports and compares trends in pulmonary TB mortality.MethodsWe utilized the World Health Organization (WHO) mortality database from 1985 through 2018 to analyze TB mortality using the International Classification of Diseases-10 codes. Based on the availability and quality of data, we investigated 33 countries including two countries from the Americas; 28 countries from Europe; and 3 countries from the Western Pacific region. Mortality rates were dichotomized by sex. We computed age-standardized death rates per 100,000 population using the world standard population. Time trends were investigated using joinpoint regression analysis.ResultsWe observed a uniform decrease in mortality in all countries across the study period except the Republic of Moldova, which showed an increase in female mortality (+ 0.12 per 100,000 population). Among all countries, Lithuania had the greatest reduction in male mortality (-12) between 1993–2018, and Hungary had the greatest reduction in female mortality (-1.57) between 1985–2017. For males, Slovenia had the most rapid recent declining trend with an estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) of -47% (2003–2016), whereas Croatia showed the fastest increase (EAPC, + 25.0% [2015–2017]). For females, New Zealand had the most rapid declining trend (EAPC, -47.2% [1985–2015]), whereas Croatia showed a rapid increase (EAPC, + 24.9% [2014–2017]).ConclusionsPulmonary TB mortality is disproportionately higher among Central and Eastern European countries. This communicable disease cannot be eliminated from any one region without a global approach. Priority action areas include ensuring early diagnosis and successful treatment to the most vulnerable groups such as people of foreign origin from countries with a high burden of TB and incarcerated population. Incomplete reporting of TB-related epidemiological data to WHO excluded high-burden countries and limited our study to 33 countries only. Improvement in reporting is crucial to accurately identify changes in epidemiology, the effect of new treatments, and management approaches.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12890-023-02458-9.