List of epidemics and pandemics


This is a list of the largest known epidemics and pandemics caused by an infectious disease in humans. Widespread non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer are not included. An epidemic is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time; in meningococcal infections, an attack rate in excess of 15 cases per 100,000 people for two consecutive weeks is considered an epidemic. Due to the long time spans, the first plague pandemic and the second plague pandemic are shown by individual outbreaks, such as the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death.
Infectious diseases with high prevalence are listed separately, such as malaria, which may have killed 50–60 million people.

Major epidemics and pandemics

By death toll

Ongoing epidemics and pandemics are in bold face. For a given epidemic or pandemic, the average of its estimated death toll range is used for ranking. If the death toll averages of two or more epidemics or pandemics are equal, then the smaller the range, the higher the rank. For the historical records of major changes in the world population, see world population.
RankEpidemics/pandemicsDiseaseDeath tollPercentage of population lostYearsLocation
1Plague of JustinianBubonic plague15–100 million25–60% of European population541–549North Africa, Europe, and Western Asia
2HIV/AIDS pandemicHIV/AIDS45 million –1981–presentWorldwide
3Black DeathBubonic plague25–50 million30–60% of European population1346–1353Europe, Asia, and North Africa
41918 "Spanish" influenza pandemicInfluenza A/H1N125–50 million1–5.4% of global population1918–1920Worldwide
5COVID-19 pandemicCOVID-197.13–38 million–2019–presentWorldwide
6Third plague pandemicBubonic plague12–15 million–1855–1960Worldwide
7Cocoliztli epidemic of 1545–1548Cocoliztli, caused by an unidentified pathogen5–15 million27–80% of Mexican population1545–1548Mexico
8Antonine PlagueSmallpox or measles5–10 million25–33% of Roman population165–180 Roman Empire
91520 Mexico smallpox epidemicSmallpox5–8 million23–37% of Mexican population1519–1520Mexico
101957–1958 influenza pandemicInfluenza A/H2N21–4 million–1957–1958Worldwide
11Hong Kong fluInfluenza A/H3N21–4 million–1968–1969Worldwide
121918–1922 Russia typhus epidemicTyphus2–3 million1–1.6% of Russian population1918–1922Russia
13Cocoliztli epidemic of 1576Cocoliztli2–2.5 million50% of Mexican population1576–1580Mexico
141772–1773 Persian PlagueBubonic plague2 million–1772–1773Persia
15735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemicSmallpox2 million33% of Japanese population735–737Japan
16Naples PlagueBubonic plague1.25 million–1656–1658Southern Italy
171889–1890 pandemicInfluenza or human coronavirus OC431 million–1889–1890Worldwide
181629–1631 Italian plagueBubonic plague1 million–1629–1631Italy
191846–1860 cholera pandemicCholera1 million–1846–1860Worldwide

Infectious diseases with high prevalence

There have been various major infectious diseases with high prevalence worldwide, but they are currently not listed in the above table as epidemics/pandemics due to the lack of definite data, such as time span and death toll.