COVID-19 pandemic death rates by country explained

This article contains the number of confirmed COVID-19 deaths per population as of, by country. It also has cumulative death totals by country. For these numbers over time see the tables, graphs, and maps at COVID-19 pandemic deaths and COVID-19 pandemic by country and territory.

This data is for entire populations, and does not reflect the differences in rates relative to different age groups. For example, in the United States as of 27 April 2021, the reported case fatality ratios were 0.015%, 0.15%, 2.3%, and 17% for the age groups 0–17, 18–49, 50–74, and 75 or over, respectively.[1]

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Data reliability

Variation between testing programmes worldwide results in different ascertainment rates per country: not every SARS-CoV-2 infection, nor every COVID-19-related death, will be identified, while on the other hand some deaths may be wrongly attributed to COVID-19 (for example if all suspected COVID-19 deaths are counted as COVID-19 deaths, as Belgium was doing in September 2020, or when for several months after April 2020, England reported all deaths after a positive COVID-19 test "in order to be sure not to underestimate the number of COVID-19 related deaths", while Scotland reported all deaths within 28 days of such a positive test).[2] [3] Therefore, the true numbers of infections and deaths will exceed the observed (confirmed) numbers everywhere, though the extent will vary by country.[4] These statistics are therefore less suitable for between-country comparisons. As deaths are easier to identify than infections (which are regularly asymptomatic), the true case fatality rate (CFR) is likely lower than the observed CFR.

Causes of variation in true CFRs between countries, include variations in age and overall health of the population, medical care, and classification of deaths.[5]

Excess mortality statistics provide a more reliable estimate of all COVID-19-related mortality during the pandemic, though they include both "direct COVID-19 and indirect, non-COVID-19 deaths".[6] They compare overall mortality with that of previous years, and as such also include the potentially vast number of deaths among people with unconfirmed COVID-19.

Data from Russia illustrates how the true death rates from COVID-19 can be far higher than visible from confirmed COVID-19 deaths: in December 2020, based on overall excess mortality during the year, total COVID-19 deaths in Russia were estimated to be over 186,000,[7] while confirmed COVID-19 deaths were at 56,271.[8]

For the Netherlands, based on overall excess mortality, an estimated 20,000 people died from COVID-19 in 2020,[9] while only the death of 11,525 identified COVID-19 cases was registered. The official count of COVID-19 deaths as of December 2021 is slightly more than 5.4 million, according to World Health Organization's report in May 2022. WHO also said that the real numbers are far higher than the official tally because of unregistered deaths in countries without adequate reporting.[10]

Table of total cases, deaths, and death rates by country

Note: Table is automatically updated daily.[11] Data source is Our World in Data.[12] [13]

Map of death rates

Total confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people by country:[14] [13] [15]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 2021-04-27. Demographic Trends of COVID-19 cases and deaths in the US reported to CDC.
  2. News: Behind the headlines: Counting COVID-19 deaths. John Newton. UK Health Security Agency. 12 August 2020 . 26 January 2020.
  3. Beaney. Thomas. Clarke. Jonathan M. Jain. Vageesh. Golestaneh. Amelia Kataria. Lyons. Gemma. Salman. David. Majeed. Azeem. 2020. Excess mortality: the gold standard in measuring the impact of COVID-19 worldwide?. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. en. 113. 9. 329–334. 10.1177/0141076820956802. 0141-0768. 7488823. 32910871. Russia's case definition for a COVID-19 death, for example, relies solely on results from autopsy, unlike most European countries.6 Death must have been due directly to COVID-19, so it is not counted if a patient was found to have COVID-19 but it did not cause their death.6,7 This will lead to significant underreporting, especially as Russia has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases worldwide and yet has a case fatality rate of only 1.7% as of 31 July 2020.3 Spain's definition requires a positive polymerase chain reaction or antibody test for COVID-19, with only hospital deaths included in the death count despite a significant number of deaths from COVID-19 in the community and care homes.8,9 Belgium, by contrast, has one of the broadest definitions for a COVID-19 death, including all suspected cases. Care home deaths in Belgium account for around half of all excess deaths, but only 26% of care home deaths were confirmed (rather than suspected) COVID-19,10 leading to possible overcounting relative to other countries.11.
  4. Verity. Robert. March 30, 2020. Estimates of the severity of coronavirus disease 2019: a model-based analysis. The Lancet. Infectious Diseases. 20. 6. 669–677. 10.1016/S1473-3099(20)30243-7. 7158570. 32240634. free.
  5. News: Why is Singapore's COVID-19 death rate the world's lowest. Reuters. 18 September 2020. Aravindan. John Geddie.
  6. Beaney. Thomas. Clarke. Jonathan M. Jain. Vageesh. Golestaneh. Amelia Kataria. Lyons. Gemma. Salman. David. Majeed. Azeem. 2020. Excess mortality: the gold standard in measuring the impact of COVID-19 worldwide?. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. en. 113. 9. 329–334. 10.1177/0141076820956802. 0141-0768. 7488823. 32910871. Under the assumption that the incidence of other diseases remains steady over time, then excess deaths can be viewed as those caused both directly and indirectly by COVID-19 and gives a summary measure of the 'whole system' impact. ... Despite this, when seeking to understand the full impact of deaths due to COVID-19 and explain why excess deaths vary, there is a need to distinguish the component parts – of direct COVID-19 and indirect, non-COVID-19 deaths..
  7. Web site: Agence France-Presse. December 28, 2020. Russia admits to world's third-worst Covid-19 death toll. The Guardian.
  8. Web site: COVID-19 Data Explorer . Our World in Data.
  9. Web site: CBS: afgelopen jaar ruim 20.000 coronadoden . nos.nl . 7 April 2021 . nl.
  10. News: Rigby . Jennifer . 2022-05-05 . Almost three times as many died as a result of COVID than officially reported - WHO . en . Reuters . 2022-05-05.
  11. The table this note applies to is updated daily by a bot. For more info see .
  12. [Our World in Data]
  13. Web site: CSSEGISandData/COVID-19. GitHub. 5 August 2022 . COVID-19 Data Repository by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University. The CSV files are downloaded via the "Raw" links. The "Raw" link doesn't show up until you click the csv file link. This opens into a GitHub page with the data and the "Raw" link. See How to Use our Data for more info and links. See: Pandemic Data Initiative. See more sourcing history and info.
  14. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/total-covid-deaths-per-million World map of cumulative confirmed COVID-19 deaths per million people
  15. [Our World in Data]

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