As of 2023, the countries with the highest death rates worldwide were Monaco, Bulgaria, and Latvia. In these countries, there were ** to ** deaths per 1,000 people. The country with the lowest death rate is Qatar, where there is just *** death per 1,000 people. Leading causes of death The leading causes of death worldwide are, by far, cardiovascular diseases, accounting for ** percent of all deaths in 2021. That year, there were **** million deaths worldwide from ischaemic heart disease and **** 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 2023, there were around **** 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 ** percent of all deaths in 2023. 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 ****** deaths among men alone in the year 2025. Prostate cancer is the second-deadliest cancer for men in the U.S. while breast cancer is the second deadliest for women. In 2023, the tenth 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, and it was the third leading cause of death in the U.S. during those years.

The average for 2022 based on 196 countries was 8.24 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in the Central African Republic: 55.13 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Qatar: 0.93 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

In 2023, Germany had an overall crude death rate of 12 per 1,000 people. In comparison, the death rate in South Korea was six per 1,000 people. This statistic represents a ranking of select developed and developing countries based on death rates as of 2023.

In 2025, Japan had the highest death rate in the Asia-Pacific region, with **** deaths per one thousand population. In comparison, the death rate for the population of the Maldives amounted to *** deaths for every one thousand inhabitants in that year.

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.

The average for 2022 based on 47 countries was 5.85 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in Japan: 12.9 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Qatar: 0.93 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This dataset provides values for CORONAVIRUS DEATHS reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

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.

The average for 2022 based on 187 countries was 27 deaths per 1000 births. The highest value was in Niger: 121 deaths per 1000 births and the lowest value was in Estonia: 2 deaths per 1000 births. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

North Korea had the world's highest death rate from air pollution in 2021, at *** per 100,000 inhabitants. This was roughly ***** times higher than the global average, and more than ** 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.

The average for 2022 based on 67 countries was 9 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in Monaco: 23.5 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Qatar: 0.93 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2022 based on 20 countries was 6.91 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in Puerto Rico: 11 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Honduras: 4.44 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Trends in Covid total deaths per million. The latest data for over 100 countries around the world.

The average for 2022 based on 7 countries was 10.79 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in Japan: 12.9 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Canada: 8.6 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This horizontal bar chart displays death rate (per 1,000 people) by country full name using the aggregation average, weighted by population in Trinidad and Tobago. The data is about countries per year.

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.

The average for 2022 based on 13 countries was 7.39 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in Palau: 11.5 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Vanuatu: 5.17 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The average for 2022 based on 19 countries was 8.69 deaths per 1000 people. The highest value was in Japan: 12.9 deaths per 1000 people and the lowest value was in Saudi Arabia: 2.57 deaths per 1000 people. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This horizontal bar chart displays death rate (per 1,000 people) by region using the aggregation average, weighted by population in South America. The data is about countries.

In 2024, Sri Lanka had the highest crude death rate among the countries in South Asia, with a crude death rate of *** deaths per 1,000 of the population. Comparatively, the Maldives had the lowest crude death rate in all of Asia, with *** deaths for every 1,000 of the population in 2024.