Worst Epidemics in Human History
In the wake of the growing coronavirus pandemic that is affecting the world, here are some of the deadliest and most devastating epidemics in human history.It killed 75-200 million people, which was up to 60% of Europe's population at the time. It took 200 years for the world population to recover to its previous level.
Easily the worst (until the Coronavirus kills us all).
Easily the worst.
Easy #1
Happened just over 100 years ago, with 500 million people infected, and a death toll of up to 100 million people, which was 3-6% of the world population. - micahisthebest
Yeah very bad. - 2storm
Plague of Justinian was worse than Spanish flu. Spanish flu took out 2.5% of the population, plague of Justinian took out 25% of the population.
A lesser known plague that killed a staggering 25-50 million people in the years 541-542 AD. Some reports say 100 million people died, which was half of the world population at the time.
This should be above Spanish flu, Spanish flu killed 5% of the population, Plague of Justinian killed 25% of the population
An ongoing pandemic for many years that has resulted in over 30 million deaths and has spread all around the world, particularly in Africa - micahisthebest
A plague that devastated Rome from 165 to 180 AD, killing 5-10 million people. - micahisthebest
Devastating the place of New Spain which is present-day Mexico, the plague killed an estimated 5-15 million people. - micahisthebest
More well-known and recent, this pandemic which is also known as the 'swine flu' infected 11-21% of the global population, but had a much lower fatality rate at about 150,000-575,000 deaths. - micahisthebest
Although it wasn't as bad in death toll, the plague killed an estimated 100,000 people, which was a quarter of London's population, in 18 months. - micahisthebest
Also known as the Hong Kong flu, this outbreak killed an estimated 1 million people. - micahisthebest
This plague devastated the city of Athens in the 5th century, killing up to 100,000 people. - micahisthebest
One of the most underrated ones. This one did some damage. - 2storm