Overview
- The WHO's Global Health Statistics 2026 report, released Wednesday, puts pandemic excess deaths for 2020–2023 at 22.1 million, about triple the roughly 7 million deaths countries reported.
- Excess mortality measures deaths above normal levels and captures missed COVID deaths as well as indirect losses from disrupted care, limited testing, weaker surveillance, and social and economic strain.
- The toll peaked in 2021 at 10.4 million deaths and fell to 3.3 million in 2023 as pressure on health systems eased from the worst waves.
- As broad testing and reporting waned after 2022, excess deaths per reported COVID death rose, reaching about nine to one in 2023.
- The report says global life expectancy dropped from 73 to 71 years between 2019 and 2021 with only a partial rebound by 2023, signaling years of health gains at risk without stronger data and care systems.