The World Health Organization said on Thursday that the Covid-19 pandemic was responsible for an estimated 22.1 million excess deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2023 — more than three times the 7 million deaths officially reported.
The figures were published in the WHO's World Health Statistics 2026 report, the organisation's annual assessment of global health progress.
The COVID-19 pandemic was linked to an estimated 22.1 million excess deaths from all causes globally between 2020 and 2023—more than three times the 7 million reported COVID-19 deaths.
— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) May 14, 2026
Learn more about the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic's global impact.
World Health… pic.twitter.com/rtyM7kodjE
A Death Toll Far Beyond Official Records
"We estimate approximately 22 million excess deaths globally during this period," said Alain Labrique, the WHO's director of digital health and innovation, at a press conference. The report's findings were described as "sobering" by Yukiko Nakatani, the WHO's assistant director general for health systems.
The concept of excess deaths — the difference between the total number of deaths recorded and the number that would have been expected without the pandemic — captures not only those who died directly from Covid-19, but also those who died from other illnesses as overwhelmed health systems failed to treat them, or as patients avoided seeking care out of fear.
2021 Was the Deadliest Year
This reveals the scale of the pandemic's global impact, reversing a decade of gains in life expectancy, with recovery remaining incomplete and uneven across regions.
Excess mortality was highest in 2021 with 10.4 million deaths as more lethal variants emerged and health systems faced severe strain, before declining to 3.3 million deaths in 2023. Men consistently saw higher excess mortality than women, with age-standardised mortality rates about 50% higher in men than women at the 2021 peak.
The Elderly Bore the Brunt
A strong age gradient was also apparent; excess mortality rose sharply in older adults and was 10 times higher in people 85 years and older than among younger adults, the data showed.
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A Decade of Progress, Wiped Out
The Covid-19 pandemic inflicted a setback of historic proportions that wiped out nearly a decade of gains in life expectancy and healthy life expectancy by 2021, according to the report released on Wednesday. Recovery since 2022 has been uneven, with persistent disparities according to region, age and sex, it added.
It added that progress towards health-related sustainable development goals is insufficient, uneven across regions and populations, and increasingly vulnerable to systemic shocks. It added that progress stalled on universal health coverage, maternal and child health, and reduction in premature mortality due to non-communicable diseases, which remain the leading causes of mortality globally.
Some Wins, But Malaria Bucks the Trend
Data show global long-term declines continue for infectious diseases: between 2010 and 2024, new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections fell by 40%; the tuberculosis incidence rate has dropped 12% since 2015; and the number of people who required interventions for neglected tropical diseases fell by 36% from 2010.
Global malaria incidence, however, has risen 8.5% since 2015.
High prevalence rates of preventable risk factors continue to hold back improvements. Global anaemia prevalence in women of reproductive age rose slightly to 30.7% in 2023 compared with the 2012 level and overweight in children younger than 5 years has reached 5.5% in 2024.
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