Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

As of January 13, 2023, Bulgaria had the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths among its population in Europe at 548.6 deaths per 100,000 population. Hungary had recorded 496.4 deaths from COVID-19 per 100,000. Furthermore, Russia had the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in Europe, at over 394 thousand.

Number of cases in Europe During the same period, across the whole of Europe, there have been over 270 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. France has been Europe's worst affected country with around 38.3 million cases, this translates to an incidence rate of approximately 58,945 cases per 100,000 population. Germany and Italy had approximately 37.6 million and 25.3 million cases respectively.

Current situation In March 2023, the rate of cases in Austria over the last seven days was 224 per 100,000 which was the highest in Europe. Luxembourg and Slovenia both followed with seven day rates of infections at 122 and 108 respectively.

Peru is the country with the highest mortality rate due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Latin America. As of November 13, 2023, the country registered over 672 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. It was followed by Brazil, with around 331.5 fatal cases per 100,000 population. In total, over 1.76 million people have died due to COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Are these figures accurate? Although countries like Brazil already rank among the countries most affected by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), there is still room to believe that the number of cases and deaths in Latin American countries are underreported. The main reason is the relatively low number of tests performed in the region. For example, Brazil, one of the most impacted countries in the world, has performed approximately 63.7 million tests as of December 22, 2022. This compared with over one billion tests performed in the United States, approximately 909 million tests completed in India, or around 522 million tests carried out in the United Kingdom.

Capacity to deal with the outbreak With the spread of the Omicron variant, the COVID-19 pandemic is putting health systems around the world under serious pressure. The lack of equipment to treat acute cases, for instance, is one of the problems affecting Latin American countries. In 2019, the number of ventilators in hospitals in the most affected countries ranged from 25.23 per 100,000 inhabitants in Brazil to 5.12 per 100,000 people in Peru.

For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

The leading cause of death in low-income countries worldwide in 2021 was lower respiratory infections, followed by stroke and ischemic heart disease. The death rate from lower respiratory infections that year was 59.4 deaths per 100,000 people. While the death rate from stroke was around 51.6 per 100,000 people. Many low-income countries suffer from health issues not seen in high-income countries, including infectious diseases, malnutrition and neonatal deaths, to name a few. Low-income countries worldwide Low-income countries are defined as those with per gross national incomes (GNI) per capita of 1,045 U.S. dollars or less. A majority of the world’s low-income countries are located in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia. Some of the lowest-income countries as of 2023 include Burundi, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. Low-income countries have different health problems that lead to worse health outcomes. For example, Chad, Lesotho, and Nigeria have some of the lowest life expectancies on the planet. Health issues in low-income countries Low-income countries also tend to have higher rates of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases as a consequence of poor health infrastructure and a lack of qualified health workers. Eswatini, Lesotho, and South Africa have some of the highest rates of new HIV infections worldwide. Likewise, tuberculosis, a treatable condition that affects the respiratory system, has high incident rates in lower income countries. Other health issues can be affected by the income of a country as well, including maternal and infant mortality. In 2023, Afghanistan had one of the highest rates of infant mortality rates in the world.

In 2021, the average mortality rate across OECD countries from treatable causes stood at 79 deaths per 100,000 population. This varied widely from just 39 deaths in Switzerland to 257 treatable deaths in South Africa per 100,000 population. The OECD defines treatable (or amenable) mortality as causes of death that can be mainly avoided through timely and effective health care interventions including secondary prevention and treatment (i.e. after the onset of disease, to reduce case fatality). Preventable mortality is defined as causes of death amongst people aged under 75 years that can be mainly avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions (i.e. before the onset of disease/injury, to reduce incidence).
This statistic presents the mortality rates from treatable causes in OECD countries in 2021, by country.

In 2021, the average mortality rate across OECD countries from preventable causes stood at 158 deaths per 100,000 population. This varied widely from just 83 deaths in Israel to 435 preventable deaths in Mexico per 100,000 population. The OECD defines preventable mortality as causes of death amongst people aged under 75 years that can be mainly avoided through effective public health and primary prevention interventions (i.e. before the onset of disease/injury, to reduce incidence). Treatable (or amenable mortality is defined as causes of death that can be mainly avoided through timely and effective health care interventions including secondary prevention and treatment (i.e. after the onset of disease, to reduce case fatality). This statistic presents the mortality rates from preventable causes worldwide in 2021, by country.

Maternal mortality rates can vary significantly around the world. For example, in 2022, Estonia had a maternal mortality rate of zero per 100,000 live births, while Mexico reported a rate of 38 deaths per 100,000 live births. However, the regions with the highest number of maternal deaths are Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia, with differences between countries and regions often reflecting inequalities in health care services and access. Most causes of maternal mortality are preventable and treatable with the most common causes including severe bleeding, infections, complications during delivery, high blood pressure during pregnancy, and unsafe abortion. Maternal mortality in the United States In 2022, there were a total of 817 maternal deaths in the United States. Women aged 25 to 39 years accounted for 578 of these deaths, however, rates of maternal mortality are much higher among women aged 40 years and older. In 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among women aged 40 years and older in the U.S. was 87 per 100,000 live births, compared to a rate of 21 among women aged 25 to 39 years. The rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. has risen in recent years among all age groups. Differences in maternal mortality in the U.S. by race/ethnicity Sadly, there are great disparities in maternal mortality in the United States among different races and ethnicities. In 2022, the rate of maternal mortality among non-Hispanic white women was about 19 per 100,000 live births, while non-Hispanic Black women died from maternal causes at a rate of almost 50 per 100,000 live births. Rates of maternal mortality have risen for white and Hispanic women in recent years, but Black women have by far seen the largest increase in maternal mortality. In 2022, around 253 Black women died from maternal causes in the United States.

As of 2022, the mortality rate from diabetes in Czechia was 53.2 per 100,000 males and 35.9 per 100,000 females. These were the highest mortality rate among men and women in Europe. This statistic displays the number of diabetes deaths in Europe in 2022, by country and gender (per 100,000 population).

North Korea had the world's highest death rate from air pollution in 2021, at 279 per 100,000 inhabitants. This was roughly three times higher than the global average, and more than 33 times higher than the death rate in Finland. High-income countries typically have lower deaths rates from air pollution than those in developing regions. This is especially the case when looking at death rates among children from air pollution.

As of 2022, the countries with the highest death rates worldwide were Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Moldova. In these countries, there were 17 to 21 deaths per 1,000 people. The country with the lowest death rate is Qatar, where there is just one death per 1,000 people. Leading causes of death The leading causes of death worldwide are by far, ischaemic heart disease and stroke, accounting for a combined 27 percent of all deaths in 2019. In that year, there were 8.89 million deaths worldwide from ischaemic heart disease and 6.19 million from stroke. Interestingly, a worldwide survey from that year found that people greatly underestimate the proportion of deaths caused by cardiovascular disease, but overestimate the proportion of deaths caused by suicide, interpersonal violence, and substance use disorders. Death in the United States In 2022, there were around 3.27 million deaths in the United States. The leading causes of death in the United States are currently heart disease and cancer, accounting for a combined 40 percent of all deaths in 2022. Lung and bronchus cancer is the deadliest form of cancer worldwide, as well as in the United States. In the U.S. this form of cancer is predicted to cause around 65,790 deaths among men alone in the year 2024. Prostate cancer is the second-deadliest cancer for men in the U.S. while breast cancer is the second deadliest for women. In 2022, the fourth leading cause of death in the United States was COVID-19. Deaths due to COVID-19 resulted in a significant rise in the total number of deaths in the U.S. in 2020 and 2021 compared to 2019.

In 2021, there were almost 221 deaths per 100,000 population in Egypt due to obesity, while the death rate for the United States was around 56 per 100,000 population. This statistic shows the rate of deaths attributed to obesity in select countries worldwide in 2021.

The number of premature deaths per 100,000 habitants attributable to PM2.5 exposure above WHO guidelines fell across all European countries between 2005 and 2022. The highest mortality rates in 2022 were typically observed in Eastern European countries. This is due to factors such as the dependency of coal power plants in the region, as well as burning solid fuels for domestic heating.

This statistic shows the ten countries with the most deaths resulting from earthquakes between 1900 and 2016. Total 876,487 people were killed due to earthquakes in China. Fatalities around the world The leading causes of death worldwide for humans in 2012 were ischaemic heart diseases, with 7.4 million deaths and strokes, with 6.7 million deaths. Apart from these diseases, there are many other dangers for humans all over the world, such as famine, drugs, epidemics or the everyday traffic.

The global famine death rate has decreased over the past decades, 814 people per 100,000 of the global population died as a result of famine, while the number of deaths due to famine was about 3 per 100,000 of the global population in 2000. Famine is a scarcity of food, which can be caused by crop failure, population unbalance or drought. Between 1900 and 2014, the number of deaths due to droughts stood at 3,000,000 in China.

Compared to other countries, the Unites States are ranked as the country with the highest amount of drug-related deaths around the world. 40,393 people passed away due to drugs in 2012, while only 944 drug-related deaths were reported in Germany.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is one of the largest outbreaks in history and costs the life of many people. The Ebola virus disease has a high risk of deaths, as of August 26, 2014 there have been 3,069 cases, resulting 1,552 deaths due to outbreak in West Africa.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 162 annual traffic fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles were counted in South Africa, which is the country with the highest number of road-traffic fatalities from 2006 – 2008. Germany is on of the country with the lowest annual traffic fatalities, there were only 9 traffic fatalities per 100,000 registered vehicles.

In 2021, COVID-19 caused about 133 deaths per 100,000 population in high-income countries. This statistic displays the leading causes of death in high-income countries in 2021 by deaths per 100,000 population. Mortality from chronic diseases such as cancer and heart diseases are increasing around the world. Chronic deaths are especially prominent in Western countries, but have also recently began to increase in the developing world. Non-communicable disease burden This increase in chronic and degenerative non-communicable diseases globally stems from aging populations, modernization, and rapid urbanization. Though these are all signs of socioeconomic progress, the resulting shift in disease carries a heavy burden for societies. Health expenditure makes up around 10 percent or more of the GDP in most high-income countries, and the global spending on medicines is expected to more than double from 2010 to 2027. Non-communicable disease risk factors and prevention In most OECD countries, over 30 percent of adults are overweight. Lack of exercise, poor nutrition, and generally unhealthy lifestyles can often lead to a cluster of symptoms including abnormal blood levels, high blood pressure, and excess body fat, which in turn pose an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. However, most non-communicable diseases are preventable, and their modifiable risk factors can be lowered through lifestyle and behavioral changes.

This statistic depicts the mean tuberculosis death rates in high-burden countries worldwide in 2019, per 100,000 population. The Central African Republic led the ranking that year with a mean mortality rate of about 98 per 100,000 population.

In 2021, COVID-19 caused around 1.81 million deaths in high-income countries, making it the second leading cause of death. Ischemic heart disease was the number one cause of death in high-income countries that year, causing around 2.27 million deaths. This statistic displays the leading causes of death in high-income countries in 2021 by deaths per 100,000 population.

As of 2022, the United Kingdom had a mortality rate due to dementia of over 64 per 100,000 population, followed by the Netherlands that recorded 57.4 deaths per 100,000 population in 2022. This statistic displays the number of deaths due to dementia in selected European countries in 2022 (per 100,000 population).

In 2022, Poland reported 330.5 deaths from cancer per 100,000 population, the highest cancer mortality rate in Europe. Hungary followed with 327.8 cancer deaths per 100,000, and then Croatia with 319.6 cancer deaths per 100,000 population. This statistic displays the cancer mortality rate in Europe in 2022, by country (per 100,000 population).

Saint Kitts and Nevis saw a murder rate of 65 per 100,000 inhabitants, making it the most dangerous country for this kind of crime worldwide as of 2023. Interestingly, El Salvador, which long had the highest global homicide rates, has dropped out of the top 20 after a high number of gang members have been incarcerated. Meanwhile, Celaya in Mexico was the most dangerous city for murders. Violent conflicts worldwide Notably, these figures do not include deaths that resulted from war or a violent conflict. While there is a persistent number of conflicts worldwide, resulting casualties are not considered murders. Partially due to this reason, homicide rates in Latin America are higher than those in Afghanistan or Syria. A different definition of murder in these circumstances could change the rate significantly in some countries. Causes of death Also noteworthy is that murders are usually not random events. In the United States, the circumstances of murders are most commonly arguments, followed by narcotics incidents and robberies. Additionally, murders are not a leading cause of death. Heart diseases, strokes and cancer pose a greater threat to life than violent crime.

This statistic displays the number of road traffic fatalities in European countries per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017. According to the data, Norway had the lowest number of road fatalities in 2017 with only 2 fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants, while Serbia had the worst road safety with 8.2 road deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2017.