NEW ESTIMATES from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic across 2020 and 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).
This is up to triple the number of deaths attributed directly to the disease.
"These sobering data not only point to the impact of the pandemic but also to the need for all countries to invest in more resilient health systems that can sustain essential health services during crises, including stronger health information systems," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
"WHO is committed to working with all countries to strengthen their health information systems to generate better data for better decisions and better outcomes."
Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic based on data from earlier years.
Excess mortality includes deaths associated with COVID-19 directly (due to the disease) or indirectly (due to the pandemic’s impact on health systems and society).
Deaths linked indirectly to COVID-19 are attributable to other health conditions for which people were unable to access prevention and treatment because health systems were overburdened by the pandemic. The estimated number of excess deaths can be influenced also by deaths averted during the pandemic due to lower risks of certain events, like motor-vehicle accidents or occupational injuries.
Most of the excess deaths are concentrated in South-East Asia, Europe and the Americas (84%). Middle-income countries account for 81% of the 14.9 million excess deaths (53% in lower-middle-income countries and 28% in upper-middle-income countries) over the 24-month period, with high-income and low-income countries each accounting for 15% and 4%, respectively.
The global death toll was higher for men than for women - 57% male, 43% female - and higher among older adults.
The WHO said the 14.9 million figure was produced by leading world experts who developed a methodology to generate estimates where data is lacking.
"The United Nations system is working together to deliver an authoritative assessment of the global toll of lives lost from the pandemic. This work is an important part of UN DESA’s ongoing collaboration with WHO and other partners to improve global mortality estimates," said Mr Liu Zhenmin, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.
