As of May 2, 2023, the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) had spread to almost every country in the world, and more than 6.86 million people had died after contracting the respiratory virus. Over 1.16 million of these deaths occurred in the United States.

Waves of infections Almost every country and territory worldwide have been affected by the COVID-19 disease. At the end of 2021 the virus was once again circulating at very high rates, even in countries with relatively high vaccination rates such as the United States and Germany. As rates of new infections increased, some countries in Europe, like Germany and Austria, tightened restrictions once again, specifically targeting those who were not yet vaccinated. However, by spring 2022, rates of new infections had decreased in many countries and restrictions were once again lifted.

What are the symptoms of the virus? It can take up to 14 days for symptoms of the illness to start being noticed. The most commonly reported symptoms are a fever and a dry cough, leading to shortness of breath. The early symptoms are similar to other common viruses such as the common cold and flu. These illnesses spread more during cold months, but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest that temperature impacts the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Medical advice should be sought if you are experiencing any of these symptoms.

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.

COVID-19 rate of death, or the known deaths divided by confirmed cases, was over ten percent in Yemen, the only country that has 1,000 or more cases. This according to a calculation that combines coronavirus stats on both deaths and registered cases for 221 different countries. Note that death rates are not the same as the chance of dying from an infection or the number of deaths based on an at-risk population. By April 26, 2022, the virus had infected over 510.2 million people worldwide, and led to a loss of 6.2 million. 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.

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. Note that Statista aims to also provide domestic source material for a more complete picture, and not to just look at one particular source. Examples are these statistics on the confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia or the COVID-19 cases in Italy, both of which are from domestic sources. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

A word on the flaws of numbers like this

People are right to ask whether these numbers are at all representative or not for several reasons. First, countries worldwide decide differently on who gets tested for the virus, meaning that comparing case numbers or death rates could to some extent be misleading. Germany, for example, started testing relatively early once the country’s first case was confirmed in Bavaria in January 2020, whereas Italy tests for the coronavirus postmortem. Second, not all people go to see (or can see, due to testing capacity) a doctor when they have mild symptoms. Countries like Norway and the Netherlands, for example, recommend people with non-severe symptoms to just stay at home. This means not all cases are known all the time, which could significantly alter the death rate as it is presented here. Third and finally, numbers like this change very frequently depending on how the pandemic spreads or the national healthcare capacity. It is therefore recommended to look at other (freely accessible) content that dives more into specifics, such as the coronavirus testing capacity in India or the number of hospital beds in the UK. Only with additional pieces of information can you get the full picture, something that this statistic in its current state simply cannot provide.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increase in the global death rate, but had little to no significant impact on birth rates, causing population growth to dip slightly. On a global level, population growth is determined by the difference between the birth and death rate, and this is known as the rate of natural change - on a national or regional level, population change is also affected by migration. Ongoing trends Since the middle of the 20th century, the global birth rate has been well above the global death rate, however, the gap between these figures has grown closer in recent years. The death rate is projected to overtake the birth rate in the 2080s, which means that the world's population will then go into decline. In the future, death rates will increase due to ageing populations across the world and a plateau in life expectancy. Why does this change? There are many reasons for falling death and birth rates in recent decades. Falling death rates have been driven by a reduction in infant and child mortality, as well as increased life expectancy. Falling birth rates were also driven by the reduction in child mortality, whereby mothers would have fewer children as survival rates rose - other factors include the drop in child marriage, improved contraception access and efficacy, and women choosing to have children later in life.

The deadliest energy source worldwide is coal. It is estimated that there are roughly 33 deaths from brown coal (also known as Lignite) and 25 deaths from coal per terawatt-hour (TWh) of electricity produced from these fossil fuels. While figures take into account accidents, the majority of deaths associated with coal come from air pollution.

Air pollution deaths from fossil fuels

Air pollution from coal-fired plants has been of growing concern as it has been linked to asthma, cancer, and heart disease. Burning coal can release toxic airborne pollutants such as mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. Eastern Asia accounts for roughly 31 percent of global deaths attributable to exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) generated by fossil fuel combustion, which is perhaps unsurprising given the fact China and India are the two largest coal consumers in the world.

Safest energy source

Clean and renewable energy sources are unsurprisingly the least deadly energy sources, with 0.04 and 0.02 deaths associated with wind and solar per unit of electricity, respectively. Nuclear energy also has a low death rate, even after the inclusion of nuclear catastrophes like Chernobyl and Fukushima.

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.

Between the beginning of January 2020 and June 14, 2023, of the 1,134,641 deaths caused by COVID-19 in the United States, around 307,169 had occurred among those aged 85 years and older. This statistic shows the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) deaths in the U.S. from January 2020 to June 2023, by age.

It is estimated that from 2020 to 2021, the mean rate of excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic from all-causes was highest in Peru. In 2020-2021, there were around 437 excess deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic per 100,000 population in Peru. This statistic shows the mean number of excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic from all-causes in 2020-2021 in select countries worldwide, per 100,000 population.

In 2022, with just one death per one thousand people, Qatar was the country with the lowest death rate worldwide. This statistic shows a ranking of the 20 countries with the lowest death rates worldwide, as of 2022. Health in high-income countries Countries with the highest life expectancies are also often high-income countries with well-developed economic, social and health care systems, providing adequate resources and access to treatment for health concerns. Health care expenditure as a share of GDP varies per country; for example, spending in the United States is higher than in other OECD countries due to higher costs and prices for care services and products. In developed countries, the main burden of disease is often due to non-communicable diseases occurring in old age such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. High burden in low-income countries The countries with the lowest life expectancy worldwide are all in Africa- including Chad, Lesotho, and Nigeria- with life expectancies reaching up to 20 years shorter than the average global life expectancy. Leading causes of death in low-income countries include respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases, as these countries are often hit with the double burden of infectious diseases plus non-communicable diseases, such as those related to cardiovascular pathologies. Additionally, these countries often lack the resources and infrastructure to sustain effective healthcare systems and fail to provide appropriate access and treatment for their populations.

The seven-day average number of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. decreased significantly from April to July 2020, but it remained higher than in other countries. Seven-day rolling averages are used to adjust for administrative delays in the reporting of deaths by authorities, commonly over weekends.

The challenges of tracking and reporting the disease The U.S. confirmed its first coronavirus case in mid-January 2020 – the virus was detected in a passenger who arrived in Seattle from China. Since that first case, around 945 people have died every day from COVID-19 in the United States as of August 23, 2020. In total, the U.S. has recorded more coronavirus deaths than any other country worldwide. Accurately tracking the number of COVID-19 deaths has proved complicated, with countries having different rules for what deaths to include in their official figures. Some nations have even changed which deaths they can attribute to the disease during the pandemic.

Young people urged to act responsibly Between January and May 2020, case fatality rates among COVID-19 patients in the United States increased with age, highlighting the particular risks faced by the elderly. However, COVID-19 is not only a disease that affects older adults. Surges in the number of new cases throughout July 2020 were blamed on young people. The World Health Organization has urged young people not to become complacent, reminding them to maintain social distancing guidelines and take precautions to protect themselves and others.

The statistic shows the global death toll due to earthquakes from 2000 to 2015. Around 9,624 people died worldwide in 2015 as a result of earthquakes. Earthquakes

Earthquakes are typically caused by the movement of the earth crusts. These movements cause vibrations which pass through and around the world.

Earthquake Early Warning systems use seismic networks to detect earthquakes very rapidly so that these warnings can protect peoples' lives. Nevertheless, an earthquake may cause injury and death. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, over 316,000 people were killed in the earthquake in Haiti in 2010.

With a total number of 3,000 killed people, the earthquake in San Francisco on April 18, 1906 is the earthquake that caused the most fatalities within the United States. The number of fatalities includes people killed by earthquakes and resulting fires in San Francisco.

The global number of deaths due to earthquakes varies from year to year. In 2010, about 320,120 people died as a result of earthquakes worldwide. In 2012 earthquakes only caused 768 fatalities.

The world’s strongest earthquake in the time period from 1990 and 2013, according to measurement in the Richter scale, was the earthquake in Chile in 1960. With a magnitude of 9.5 this earthquake is the highest ranked earthquake. The Richter scale helps to quantify the energy released by an earthquake. The magnitude of 9.0 and higher is defined as ‘Near or at total destruction - severe damage or collapse to all buildings. Heavy damage and shaking extends to distant locations. Permanent changes in ground topography. Death toll usually over 50,000.’

In 2023, floods caused the death of roughly 7,600 people across the globe. Nevertheless, this death toll is dwarfed in comparison to the peak recorded in 1999. That year, some 35,000 people died as a result of floods, mostly the consequence of one of the deadliest flood incidents of the previous century, which hit Venezuela in December. The effects of flooding While the death toll is the most critical impact of flooding incidents, it is not the only one. For example, more than 30 million people were impacted by floods worldwide in 2023, including those injured, affected or left homeless. In 2010 alone, almost 200 million people were affected. Floods also incur massive economic damage by destroying buildings and infrastructure. Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Egypt were the most exposed to river flooding as of 2024. Climate change and flooding As climate change causes global temperatures to rise, floods are expected to increase in frequency and severity. A warmer atmosphere is able to retain more moisture, leading to an increase in intense downpours. It also affects snowmelt patterns. According to a 2022 report, the global population exposed to flood was expected to rise by 24 percent in the case of an increase in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius.

As of April 13, 2024, India had the highest number of confirmed deaths due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in the Asia-Pacific region, with over 533 thousand deaths. Comparatively, Indonesia, which had the second highest number of coronavirus deaths in the Asia-Pacific region, recorded approximately 162 thousand COVID-19 related deaths as of April 13, 2024. Contrastingly, Bhutan had reported 21 deaths due to COVID-19 as of April 13, 2024.

In 2023, the earthquake that hit Turkey in February was the natural disaster with the highest number of fatalities worldwide with a death toll of over 50,000. Another 5,900 fatalities were recorded in Syria after the same earthquake.

In 2021, around 29 percent of all deaths globally were caused by cardiovascular diseases and almost 15 percent were caused by cancer. Furthermore, COVID-19 was responsible for almost 12 percent of all deaths worldwide in 2021. This statistic shows the distribution of causes of death worldwide in 2021.

In 2024, there were roughly 18,100 reported fatalities caused by natural disaster events worldwide. This was well below the 21st-century average and significantly lower than the fatalities recorded in 2023, which were driven by the earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria on February and became the deadliest catastrophes in 2023, with nearly 60,000 reported deaths. Economic losses due to natural disasters The economic losses due to natural disaster events worldwide amounted to about 368 billion U.S. dollars in 2024. Although figures in recent years have remained mostly stable, 2011 remains the costliest year to date. Among the different types of natural disaster events, tropical cyclones caused the largest economic losses across the globe in 2024. What does a natural disaster cost? Hurricane Katrina has been one of the costliest disasters in the world, costing the insurance industry some 102 billion U.S. dollars. The resilience of societies against catastrophes have been boosted by insurance industry payouts. Nevertheless, insurance payouts are primarily garnered by industrialized countries. In emerging and developing regions, disaster insurance coverage is still limited, despite the need for improved risk management and resilience as a method to mitigate the impact of disasters and to promote sustainable growth.

The statistic presents the death toll in individual countries due to the world's major volcanic eruptions from 1900 to 2016*. The volcanic eruption in Cameroon on August 24, 1986 claimed a total of 1,746 deaths. Volcanic eruptions A volcanic eruption is defined as a discharge of lava and gas from a volcanic vent or fissure. Volcanoes spew hot, dangerous gases, ash, lava, and rock that are powerfully destructive. The most common consequences of this are population movements, economic loss, affected people and deaths.

Agriculture-based economies are most affected by volcanic eruption. It is unpredictable how much affected an agriculture-based economy will be in a volcanic eruption. The economic loss caused by major volcanic eruptions varies from 1,000 million U.S. during the volcanic eruption in Colombia, November 13, 1995, to 80 million U.S. dollar caused by the volcanic eruption in Japan in 1945.

It is a big tragedy when people are affected by natural disasters. 1,036,065 affected people were counted during the volcanic eruption in the Philippines in June 9, 1991. Most of the states which know about the volcanic activities in their countries have an evacuation plan trying to safe peoples lives. In some cases it is difficult for the people to follow authorities’ instructions caused by unforeseen situations and it comes to high numbers of casualties like in the volcanic eruption in Ecuador in August 14, 2006.

According to the Wold Risk Index from 2013, Qatar, with an index value of 0.1, was the safest country in the world. This index is a complex interplay of natural hazards and social, political and environmental factors.

Estimates for the total death count of the Second World War generally range somewhere between 70 and 85 million people. The Soviet Union suffered the highest number of fatalities of any single nation, with estimates mostly falling between 22 and 27 million deaths. China then suffered the second greatest, at around 20 million, although these figures are less certain and often overlap with the Chinese Civil War. Over 80 percent of all deaths were of those from Allied countries, and the majority of these were civilians. In contrast, 15 to 20 percent were among the Axis powers, and the majority of these were military deaths, as shown in the death ratios of Germany and Japan. Civilian deaths and atrocities It is believed that 60 to 67 percent of all deaths were civilian fatalities, largely resulting from war-related famine or disease, and war crimes or atrocities. Systematic genocide, extermination campaigns, and forced labor, particularly by the Germans, Japanese, and Soviets, led to the deaths of millions. In this regard, Nazi activities alone resulted in 17 million deaths, including six million Jews in what is now known as The Holocaust. Not only was the scale of the conflict larger than any that had come before, but the nature of and reasoning behind this loss make the Second World War stand out as one of the most devastating and cruelest conflicts in history. Problems with these statistics Although the war is considered by many to be the defining event of the 20th century, exact figures for death tolls have proven impossible to determine, for a variety of reasons. Countries such as the U.S. have fairly consistent estimates due to preserved military records and comparatively few civilian casualties, although figures still vary by source. For most of Europe, records are less accurate. Border fluctuations and the upheaval of the interwar period mean that pre-war records were already poor or non-existent for many regions. The rapid and chaotic nature of the war then meant that deaths could not be accurately recorded at the time, and mass displacement or forced relocation resulted in the deaths of many civilians outside of their homeland, which makes country-specific figures more difficult to find. Early estimates of the war’s fatalities were also taken at face value and formed the basis of many historical works; these were often very inaccurate, but the validity of the source means that the figures continue to be cited today, despite contrary evidence.

In comparison to Europe, estimate ranges are often greater across Asia, where populations were larger but pre-war data was in short supply. Many of the Asian countries with high death tolls were European colonies, and the actions of authorities in the metropoles, such as the diversion of resources from Asia to Europe, led to millions of deaths through famine and disease. Additionally, over one million African soldiers were drafted into Europe’s armies during the war, yet individual statistics are unavailable for most of these colonies or successor states (notably Algeria and Libya). Thousands of Asian and African military deaths went unrecorded or are included with European or Japanese figures, and there are no reliable figures for deaths of millions from countries across North Africa or East Asia. Additionally, many concentration camp records were destroyed, and such records in Africa and Asia were even sparser than in Europe. While the Second World War is one of the most studied academic topics of the past century, it is unlikely that we will ever have a clear number for the lives lost in the conflict.

In 2022, Germany had an overall crude death rate of 13 per 1,000 people. In comparison, the death rate in South Korea was seven per 1,000 people. This statistic represents a ranking of select developed and developing countries based on death rates as of 2022.

Since the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in Italy, started in February 2020, many people who contracted the infection died. The number of deaths amounted to 198,683 as of January 8, 2025. On December 3, 2020, 993 patients died, the highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic. The region with the highest number of deaths was Lombardy, which is also the region that registered the highest number of coronavirus cases. Italy's death toll was one of the most tragic in the world. In the last months, however, the country saw the end to this terrible situation: as of November 2023, roughly 85 percent of the total Italian population was fully vaccinated. For further information about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.