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The COVID-19 Death Toll

Bar diagram on reported and estimated deaths from COVID-19.

Status November 2023

Findings

In total, the COVID-19 pandemic caused

6.98 million reported deaths by today (Nov. 2023) (1)
or an estimated 14.9 to 18.2 million deaths by the end of 2021 (2)
or 27.4 million by today (3).

Sources and Details

(1) WHO 2023 (updated 8 November 2023).

(2) Excess deaths; WHO 2022, The Economist 2023, IHME/GBD study 2022. The Economist estimated a total of 17.8 million deaths for 2020 and 2021, slightly less than the 18.2 million estimated by the IHME.

(3) Excess deaths; The Economist 2023 (updated 18 November 2023). (The WHO and IHME have not yet provided estimates of the number of excess deaths related to COVID-19 for 2022 and 2023.)

Diagram on reported and estimated COVID-19 deaths by November 2023.

Diagram source: OWID 2023 (continuously updated).

The annual death toll of COVID-19 rose from 4.44 to 5.27 million in 2020 to a peak of 10.4 to 12.5 million in 2021 (1). Afterwards, it decreased to 7.11 million in 2022 and to 2.8 million in 2023 (extrapolated from 2.5 million by November 18) (2). Compared to other diseases, it is still the number one infectious killer (3).

(1) Excess deaths; WHO 2023a, The Economist 2023. The IHME did not provide annual figures.

(2) The Economist 2023 (updated 18 November 2023). (No estimates of COVID-19 excess deaths for 2022 and 2023 by the WHO and the IHME available.)

(3) See our "Latest Data on Major Global Challenges".

Bar diagram on annual COVID-19 deaths 2019-2023 (reported and estimated deaths).

Mortality rates in Singapore, Japan and South Korea were much lower than in Western high-income countries (1).

(1) WHO 2023

Suggested citation:
Global2030: The COVID-19 Death Toll; Status November 2023. Berlin, Global Challenges Initiative e.V., 2023. (www.global2030.net/news/covid19-death-toll-2023-11.html).