The latest worldwide average death rate is 352 per one million people (3.5 deaths for every 10,000 people). Figures are from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control situation report to Saturday 25th March 2021. Here’s the updated list of countries with death rates more than twice that average:

Death rates are the best measures of a national government’s effectiveness, because in many countries with poor pandemic management, the total number of cases is severely under-reported. From these results, it is clear that many nations which put business ahead of evidence-based health advice have higher death rates.

The world map below makes it easier to see regional patters, from the excellent Our World In Data website:

This second table below shows nations with death rates already above the worldwide average ranked by percentage increase in the last two weeks, to highlight those governments whose current pandemic management is not proving effective:

The long term picture is still unclear. These results will be revised every month, or you can view a chart and add your own selection of data and countries at this link: Ourworldindata.org

Many nations will never report accurate totals because they do not fund sufficient testing. Citizens there will only get an indication of trend from public statistics, but must judge the true scale of deaths from community and hospital experience. However, post-pandemic statistics on unexplained changes in national death rates will reveal the extent of under-counting over the next year.

Full table for all countries below:

Source: European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) – Situation Report Worldwide.

• comparison
• Corona
• Coronavirus
• covid 19
• effectiveness
• failure
• international
• national
• strategy
• WHO
• world health organisation