OBJECTIVES: The disability adjusted life year (DALY) is the most widely used estimator of burden of disease, both for international comparisons or focused on specific diseases. The most recent Global Burden of Disease study introduced changes to traditional methodology. Infectious diseases are still a relevant source of preventable DALY, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Our objective was to analyze differences in disease-specific burden of disease estimation, using local Colombian data, on pneumococcal diseases. METHODS: We performed DALY estimations using both the traditional methodology and the new one, which involves differences in life expectancy tables, discount rates, age-group weights and disability weights. We obtained Colombian data on incidence and mortality by pneumococcal infections from local registries or, when absent, from a literature review focused on South American information, and analyzed observed differences in the estimation. RESULTS: Traditional estimations yielded a total of 119,120 DALYs. Most of them were produced by pneumonia; 92% were years of life lost (YLL). The greatest concentration of DALYs was in children and elderly. New estimation yielded 279,603 DALY. Pneumonia was the main source and YLL representing 97%. There was a 135% increase in total DALYs with the new methodology. YLL were greatly increased while years lost to disability (YLD) had a small decrease. Pneumonia and bacteremia had similar behavior to total data. Meningitis had a much greater proportion of YLD which increased with new methodology. CONCLUSIONS: The same data yield significantly different results with the new methodology. DALY and YLL show a predictable increase attributable to the longer lifespans used and the absence of discount rate and age weighting. The only increase in YLD was seen in meningitis, with its long-term disability. It is important to understand the new DALY methodology when comparing historical data or prioritizing resource allocation.