The COVID-19 pandemic increased the global death rate, reaching *** in 2021, 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 rates, known as the rate of natural change. On a national or regional level, migration also affects population change. 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 the decline in 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 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.

Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people) in World was reported at 7.5788 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. World - Death rate, crude - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.

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.

Historical dataset showing World death rate by year from 1950 to 2025.

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.

The World Health Organization reported 766440796 Coronavirus Cases since the epidemic began. In addition, countries reported 6932591 Coronavirus Deaths. This dataset provides - World Coronavirus Cases- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

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

This dataset contains counts of deaths for California counties based on information entered on death certificates. Final counts are derived from static data and include out-of-state deaths to California residents, whereas provisional counts are derived from incomplete and dynamic data. Provisional counts are based on the records available when the data was retrieved and may not represent all deaths that occurred during the time period. Deaths involving injuries from external or environmental forces, such as accidents, homicide and suicide, often require additional investigation that tends to delay certification of the cause and manner of death. This can result in significant under-reporting of these deaths in provisional data.

The final data tables include both deaths that occurred in each California county regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence) and deaths to residents of each California county (by residence), whereas the provisional data table only includes deaths that occurred in each county regardless of the place of residence (by occurrence). The data are reported as totals, as well as stratified by age, gender, race-ethnicity, and death place type. Deaths due to all causes (ALL) and selected underlying cause of death categories are provided. See temporal coverage for more information on which combinations are available for which years.

The cause of death categories are based solely on the underlying cause of death as coded by the International Classification of Diseases. The underlying cause of death is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as "the disease or injury which initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury." It is a single value assigned to each death based on the details as entered on the death certificate. When more than one cause is listed, the order in which they are listed can affect which cause is coded as the underlying cause. This means that similar events could be coded with different underlying causes of death depending on variations in how they were entered. Consequently, while underlying cause of death provides a convenient comparison between cause of death categories, it may not capture the full impact of each cause of death as it does not always take into account all conditions contributing to the death.

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.

The statistic shows the death rate in the Arab world (Arab League) countries in 2023. In 2023, there were about 9.84 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in Somalia.

The Global Subnational Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 consist of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) estimates for 234 countries and territories, 143 of which include subnational Units. The data are benchmarked to the year 2015 (Version 1 was benchmarked to the year 2000), and are drawn from national offices, Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), and other sources from 2006 to 2014. In addition to Infant Mortality Rates, Version 2.01 includes crude estimates of births and infant deaths, which could be aggregated or disaggregated to different geographies to calculate infant mortality rates at different scales or resolutions, where births are the rate denominator and infant deaths are the rate numerator. Boundary inputs are derived primarily from the Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4) data collection. National and subnational data are mapped to grid cells at a spatial resolution of 30 arc-seconds (~1 km) (Version 1 has a spatial resolution of 1/4 degree, ~28 km at the equator), allowing for easy integration with demographic, environmental, and other spatial data.

United States US: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 8.400 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.440 Ratio for 2015. United States US: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 8.700 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.800 Ratio in 1968 and a record low of 7.900 Ratio in 2009. United States US: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

France FR: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 8.800 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.900 Ratio for 2015. France FR: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 9.500 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11.400 Ratio in 1960 and a record low of 8.300 Ratio in 2007. France FR: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s France – Table FR.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

The average for 2021 based on 187 countries was 20 deaths per 1000 live births. The highest value was in Sierra Leone: 78 deaths per 1000 live births and the lowest value was in San Marino: 1 deaths per 1000 live births. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Canada CA: Mortality Rate: Under-5: Female: per 1000 Live Births data was reported at 4.700 Ratio in 2023. This stayed constant from the previous number of 4.700 Ratio for 2022. Canada CA: Mortality Rate: Under-5: Female: per 1000 Live Births data is updated yearly, averaging 7.000 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 28.600 Ratio in 1960 and a record low of 4.700 Ratio in 2023. Canada CA: Mortality Rate: Under-5: Female: per 1000 Live Births data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Canada – Table CA.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Under-five mortality rate, female is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn female baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to female age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.;Estimates developed by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UNICEF, WHO, World Bank, UN DESA Population Division) at www.childmortality.org.;Weighted average;Given that data on the incidence and prevalence of diseases are frequently unavailable, mortality rates are often used to identify vulnerable populations. Moreover, they are among the indicators most frequently used to compare socioeconomic development across countries. Under-five mortality rates are higher for boys than for girls in countries in which parental gender preferences are insignificant. Under-five mortality captures the effect of gender discrimination better than infant mortality does, as malnutrition and medical interventions have more significant impacts to this age group. Where female under-five mortality is higher, girls are likely to have less access to resources than boys. Aggregate data for LIC, UMC, LMC, HIC are computed based on the groupings for the World Bank fiscal year in which the data was released by the UN Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation. This is a sex-disaggregated indicator for Sustainable Development Goal 3.2.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/].

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.

Data on causes of death (COD) provide information on mortality patterns and form a major element of public health information.

The COD data refer to the underlying cause which - according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) - is "the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury".

The data are derived from the medical certificate of death, which is obligatory in the Member States. The information recorded in the death certificate is according to the rules specified by the WHO.

Data published in Eurostat's dissemination database are broken down by sex, 5-year age groups, cause of death and by residency and country of occurrence. For stillbirths and neonatal deaths additional breakdowns might include age of mother and parity.

Data are available for Member States, Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Serbia, Turkey, North Macedonia and Albania. Regional data (NUTS level 2) are available for all of the countries having NUTS2 regions except Albania.

Annual national data are available in Eurostat's dissemination database in absolute number, crude death rates and standardised death rates. At regional level the same is provided in form of 3-years averages (the average of year, year -1 and year -2). Annual crude and standardised death rates are also available at NUTS2 level. Monthly national data are available for 21 EU Member States from reference year 2019 and in 24 Member States from reference year 2022 in absolute numbers and standardised death rates.

Death rate, crude (per 1,000 people) in United States was reported at 9.2 % in 2023, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. United States - Death rate, crude - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on October of 2025.