OBJECTIVES:  Indolent Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas (NHL) including follicular lymphoma (FL) and marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) compromise approximately 12% of all NHLs worldwide. The aim of this review is to synthesize the global burden of disease for FL and MZL by characterizing the epidemiology, natural history, economic and societal impact of these indolent NHLs. METHODS:  We ran searches in the EMBASE, Medline, NHSEED and ECONLit databases from January 2006 to November 2016. Outcomes of interest were incidence, prevalence, quality of life, costs and resource use, mortality and long-term prognosis. 1,946 potentially relevant abstracts were retrieved and reviewed. From this 54 full texts were reviewed, with 31 studies finally included in the review. RESULTS:  We found that the age-standardised incidence rates of FL ranged from 2.1/100,000 to 4.3/100,000 while for MZL it varied geographically from 0.5/100,000 in Australia to 2.6/100,000 in the UK. The cumulative total direct health care costs for FL/MZL varied by whether patients experienced progressive disease (PD) or not, with a higher mean overall cost for PD patients compared to non-PD patients ($30,890 vs. $8,704 at 12 months). There was a clinically meaningful difference in quality of life between patients with PD and newly diagnosed patients (FACT-LYM total score 109.7 vs. 136.0 [score range 0-168]). Mortality rates of FL patients at 5 years differed according to age at diagnosis (≤60 years: ranging 7.8-8.8%, ≥60 years: 17.9% and >80 years ranging 41.5-51.1%) and disease stage (21% at Ann Arbor stages 1-2 and 28% at Ann Arbor stages 3-4). Limited outcome data for MZL patients was identified. CONCLUSIONS:  This comprehensive burden of illness review demonstrates that FL/MZL contribute significant burden on the health care systems and patients globally and delays in progression could lead to potential cost savings. New treatments are needed to improve patient outcomes and reduce the global burden of disease for FL/MZL patients.