The objective of this study is to assess the global, regional, and national burden of bipolar disorder (BPD) from 1990 to 2017, by gender, age, and social-demographic index (SDI) from the 2017 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. We collected detailed information from GBD on the numbers of incidence cases and disabilityadjusted life years (DALYs), age-standardized incidence rate (ASIR), and age-standardized DALYs rate (ASDR) during 1990-2017. Estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs) were calculated to assess ASIR and ASDR trends. GBD data estimated that BPD incidences increased by 47.74%, from 3.06 million in 1990 to 4.53 million in 2017, and the DALYs increased by 54.4%, from 6.02 million in 1990 to 9.29 million in 2017. Over the 28-year period between 1990 and 2017, the ASIR and ASDR increased only slightly (EAPC = 0.14 and 0.05 for ASIR and ASDR, respectively). Subjects aged 10-19 years contributed the most to the total number of incidence cases, while those aged 20-44 years contributed the most to the number of DALYs. The ASIR and ASDR were highest in tropical Latin America and lowest in East Asia. Areas in the lowest sociodemographic index (SDI) quintile showed the highest ASIR (about 64/100,000), and those in the highest SDI quintile showed the highest ASDR (about 140/100,000). In conclusion, while the ASIR and ASDR due to BPD have been stable, the absolute incidence and DALYs remain high, which represents an increasing burden on health-care systems.