The virus itself killed millions, but pandemic disruptions led to nearly three times as many deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday released its estimate of global mortality from the Covid-19 pandemic: 14.9 million deaths, from January 1, 2020, to December 31,2021. That tally is the number of “ excess deaths ” compared to a baseline of expected deaths in a world without Covid-19. This number includes not just the people who died from the virus, but also those who passed away in the ensuing chaos as hospitals filled up and workplaces shut down. It’s a stunning snapshot of the sweeping devastation the Covid-19 pandemic unleashed around the world, showing that the virus wreaked havoc far beyond the infections it caused. The WHO attributed about 5.4 million deaths to the virus itself. The burden of these deaths was not spread equally. India suffered the highest toll from the pandemic with nearly 4.7 million fatalities, about 10 times the country’s official estimates. India’s per capita excess fatality rate average for 2020-2021 — 171 per 100,000 per year — was roughly in the middle of the pack among countries. The highest per capita rate was in Peru at 437 per 100,000 per year. The US meanwhile saw 820,000 official deaths from Covid-19 by the end of 2021, but the WHO estimated an additional 110,000 fatalities over this time frame, with a per capita rate of 140 per 100,000 per year. Within populations across the globe, older people faced the highest risks, with 82 percent of excess deaths among those older than 60. Researchers at the WHO built their estimates on official reported deaths and used models to calculate them where direct tallies weren’t available. Their excess death results are a bit lower than some prior estimates. In March, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation counted 18.2 million excess deaths in the same time frame.
