The media tends to focus on the number C-19 deaths in a country, but per capita provides a better understanding of the impact in a country. The Our World in Data page Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) – Statistics and Research page has interactive graphs for per capita deaths. For example, currently Italy is over 7,500 deaths, but I didn’t put Italy on the chart because they are at 113 deaths per million and that made it hard to see the other countries I selected. In fact, Spain is at 3,650 deaths and 58 deaths per million was also left off.
Italy, currently the worst case scenario, broke 1 death per million on March 4. The U.S. is nearly 3 weeks behind breaking 1 death per million on March 22. China, despite over 3,000 deaths has kept the per capita deaths to 2.25 per million. I’d also argue that deaths are more accurate confirmed cases, since confirmed cases depend on the testing regime.
The data is available for download on the Our World in Data page.
