War Casualities

WORLD WAR II - THE COSTLIEST WAR IN HUMAN HISTORY

Arlington Cemetery - Government issued headstones of Section 34 looking south.

Death, Destruction and Suffering

World War II casualty statistics vary greatly. Estimates of total dead range from 50 million to over 70 million.  The sources cited on this page document an estimated death toll in World War II of roughly 72 million, making it the deadliest ever. Civilians killed totaled around 47 million, including 20 million from war-related disease and famine. Total military dead: about 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 4 million prisoners of war. Axis dead: approximately 11 million; Allied dead: about 61 million.

 Jewish civilians: copy of a German photograph taken during the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto, Poland, 1943. 238-NT-282. (ww2_167.jpg)

Prisoners in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, Germany, December 19, 1938. 242-HLB-3609-25. (ww2_166.jpg)

"These are slave laborers in the Buchenwald concentration camp near Jena; many had died from malnutrition when U.S. troops of the 80th Division entered the camp." Pvt. H. Miller, Germany, April 16, 1945. 208-AA-206K-31. (ww2_178.jpg)

 "This victim of Nazi inhumanity still rests in the position in which he died, attempting to rise and escape his horrible death. He was one of 150 prisoners savagely burned to death by Nazi SS troops." Sgt. E. R. Allen, Gardelegen, Germany, April 16, 1945. 111-SC-203572. (ww2_179.jpg)

"Some of the bodies being removed by German civilians for decent burial at Gusen Concentration Camp, Muhlhausen, near Linz, Austria. Men were worked in nearby stone quarries until too weak for more, then killed." T4c. Sam Gilbert, May 12, 1945. 111-SC- 204811. (ww2_180.jpg)

"The endless procession of German prisoners captured with the fall of Aachen marching through the ruined city streets to captivity." Germany, October 1944. 260-MGG-1061-1. (ww2_169.jpg)

Nuremberg Trials: looking down on the defendants' dock. Ca. 1945-46. 238-NT-592. (ww2_170.jpg)

"Children of an eastern suburb of London, who have been made homeless by the random bombs of the Nazi night raiders, waiting outside the wreckage of what was their home." September 1940. 306-NT-3163V.

"Two bewildered old ladies stand amid the leveled ruins of the almshouse which was Home; until Jerry dropped his bombs. Total war knows no bounds. Almshouse bombed Feb. 10, Newbury, Berks., England." Naccarata, February 11, 1943. 111-SC-178801.

164. "The patient's skin is burned in a pattern corresponding to the dark portions of a kimono worn at the time of the explosion." Atomic bomb survivor. Ca. 1945. 77-MDH-6.55b.

Casualties by Country

Human Losses of World War Two by Country

Country   Population 1939   Military deaths   Civilian deaths   Jewish Holocaust deaths   Total deaths   Deaths as % of 1939 population    Albania[1] 1,073,000 28,000   200 28,200 2.63%  Australia[2] 6,998,000 40,500 700   41,200 0.57%  Austria[3] 6,653,000   40,500 65,000 105,500 1.59%  Belgium[4] 8,387,000 12,100 49,600 24,400 86,100 1.02%  Brazil[5] 40,289,000 1,000 1,000   2,000 0.00%  Bulgaria[6] 6,458,000 22,000 3,000   25,000 0.38%  Burma[7] 16,119,000 22,000 250,000   272,000 1.16%  Canada[8] 11,267,000 45,300     45,300 0.40%  Republic of China[9] 517,568,000 3,800,000 16,200,000   20,000,000 3.86%  Cuba[10] 4,235,000   100   100 0.00%  Czechoslovakia[11] 15,300,000 25,000 43,000 277,000 345,000 2.25%  Denmark[12] 3,795,000 2,100 1,000 100 3,200 0.08%  Estonia[13] 1,134,000   50,000 1,000 51,000 4.50%  Ethiopia[14] 17,700,000 5,000 95,000   100,000 0.6%  Finland[15] 3,700,000 95,000 2,000   97,000 2.62%  France[16] 41,700,000 217,600 267,000 83,000 567,600 1.35%  French Indochina[17] 24,600,000   1,000,000   1,000,000 4.07%  Nazi Germany[18][19][20][21] 69,623,000 5,533,000 1,540,000 160,000 7,233,000 10.38%  Greece[22] 7,222,000 20,000 220,000 71,300 311,300 4.31%  Hungary[23] 9,129,000 300,000 80,000 200,000 580,000 6.35%  Iceland[24] 119,000   200   200 0.17%  Indian Empire[25] 378,000,000 87,000 1,500,000   1,587,000 0.42%  Indonesia[26] 69,435,000   4,000,000   4,000,000 5.76%  Iran[27] 14,340,000 200     200 0.00%  Iraq[28] 3,698,000 1,000     1,000 0.03%  Ireland[29] 2,960,000   200   200 0.00%  Italy[30] 44,394,000 301,400 145,100 8,000 454,500 1.02%  Japan[31] 71,380,000 2,120,000 580,000   2,700,000 3.78%  Korea[32] 23,400,000   378,000   378,000 1.6%  Latvia[33] 1,995,000   147,000 80,000 227,000 11.38%  Lithuania[34] 2,575,000   212,000 141,000 353,000 13.71%  Luxembourg[35] 295,000   1,300 700 2,000 0.68%  Malaya[36] 4,391,000   100,000   100,000 2.28%  Malta[37] 269,000   1,500   1,500 0.56%  Mexico[38] 19,320,000   100   100 0.00%  Micronesia[39] 1,900,000   57,000   57,000 3.00%  Mongolia[40] 819,000 300     300 0.04%  Netherlands[41] 8,729,000 21,000 176,000 104,000 301,000 3.44%  Newfoundland[42] 300,000 1,000 100   1,100 0.37%  New Zealand[43] 1,629,000 11,900     11,900 0.67%  Norway[44] 2,945,000 3,000 5,800 700 9,500 0.32%  Philippines[45] 16,000,000 57,000 90,000   147,000 0.92%  Poland[46] 34,849,000 240,000 2,360,000 3,000,000 5,600,000 16.07%  Portuguese Timor[47] 500,000   55,000   55,000 11.00%  Romania[48] 19,934,000 300,000 64,000 469,000 833,000 4.22%  Singapore[49] 728,000   50,000   50,000 6.87%  South Africa[50] 10,160,000 11,900     11,900 0.12%  Soviet Union[51] 168,500,000 10,700,000 11,400,000 1,000,000 23,100,000 13.71%  Spain[52] 25,637,000 4,500     4,500 0.02%  Sweden[53] 6,341,000 200 2,000   2,200 0.03%  Switzerland[54] 4,210,000   100   100 0.00%  Thailand[55] 15,023,000 5,600 300   5,900 0.04%  United Kingdom[56] 47,760,000 382,700 67,100   449,800 0.94%  United States[57] 131,028,000 416,800 1,700   418,500 0.32%  Yugoslavia[58] 15,400,000 446,000 514,000 67,000 1,027,000 6.67% Totals 1,961,913,000 25,280,100 41,753,400 5,752,400 72,754,900 3.71%

Casualties by Continent

Human Losses of World War Two by Continent
Considering all Soviet casualties as European, and all European colonial forces as European as well. Continent   Civilian deaths   Military deaths   Total deaths   Asia 24,203,300 6,093,100 30,296,400 Europe 23,302,800 18,653,600 41,956,400 Africa 95,000 16,900 111,900 Oceania 57,700 52,400 110,100 Americas 3,000 464,100 467,100 Totals 47,661,800 25,280,100 72,941,900

Casualties by branch of service

The price of liberty is never free!

Send mail to webmaster@outreachmilitary.org  with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2009 OUTREACH MILITARY
Last modified: 05/07/11