World War II casualties

World War II was the single deadliest conflict the world has ever seen, causing many tens of millions of deaths. The tables below provide a detailed country-by-country count of death by side.

Total Human Losses
The total estimated human loss of life caused by World War II was roughly 72 million people. The civilian toll was around 47 million, including 20 million deaths due to war related famine and disease. The military toll was about 25 million, including the deaths of about 5 million prisoners of war in captivity. The Allies lost around 61 million people, and the Axis lost 11 million.



Recent Historical Scholarship
World War II casualty statistics vary to a great extent. Estimates of World War II casualties range from 50 million to over 70 million. Estimates of World War II casualties have been revised by recent historical scholarship. Research in Russia since the fall of communism has shed new light on Soviet war casualties. Losses for the USSR, within post war borders, are now estimated at 26.6 million. Historians in post communist Poland now estimate losses of ethnic Poles and Jews at 4.9 million. The German Army historian Dr. Rüdiger Overmans published a study in 2000 that listed German military dead and missing at 5.3 million. . The war dead totals listed here for the British Commonwealth are based on the research by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead. . The casualties listed here include about 12 million war related famine deaths in China, Indonesia, Indochina and India that are often omitted from other compilations of World War II casualties. --

Casualties by country
The casualties of World War II were suffered disproportionately by the various participants. This is especially true regarding civilian casualties. The following chart gives data on the casualties suffered by each country, along with population information to show the relative impact of losses.

Other articles

 * Equipment losses in World War II
 * World War I casualties
 * List of wars by death toll