A comprehensive look at the COVID-19 pandemic death toll
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COVID-19 ‘excess mortality’ has been estimated for more than 100 countries and shows a dramatic death toll in many countries.
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The global per capita excess mortality rate in 2020-2021 surpasses the influenza pandemics of 1957, 1968 and 2009 (estimated at 0.04%, 0.03% and 0.005%, respectively).
“This surpasses the influenza pandemics of 1957, 1968 and 2009 (estimated at 0.04%, 0.03% and 0.005%, respectively)18.”
From The WHO estimates of excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as [18]
The 1918 influenza pandemic was magnitudes higher, with an estimated 1.0% per capita excess mortality rate, or 75 million global excess deaths when adjusted to the 2020 population.
“However, the 1918 influenza pandemic was magnitudes higher, with an estimated 1.0% per capita excess mortality rate, or 75 million global excess deaths when adjusted to the 2020 population18.”
From The WHO estimates of excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic (2023) · cites this paper as [18]
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- Authors
- Simonsen, L., & Viboud, C.
- Affiliations
- Roskilde University (DK)
- National Institutes of Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Simonsen, Lone
- Venue
- eLife
- Publisher
- eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
- Published
- 2021-08-12
- Volume
- 10
- ISSN
- 2050-084X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8360646
- OpenAlex
- W3192317913
- Cited by
- 110
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- RUCforsk (Roskilde University) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Funders
- NordForsk (104910)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Modeling and Simulation › COVID-19 epidemiological studies
- Social Sciences › Demography › Insurance, Mortality, Demography, Risk Management
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › COVID-19 and healthcare impacts
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, excess mortality, COVID-19 mortality, global mortality estimates
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Humans, Pandemics
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