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World War II casualties

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American corpses sprawled on the beach of Tarawa. The Marines secured the island after 76 hours of intense fighting with around 6,000 dead in total from both sides together. The Pacific War claimed the lives of more than 100,000 US military personnel.

World War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. Over 60 million people were killed, which was over 2.5% of the world population. The tables below give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses.

Contents   [hide]  1 Total dead 2 Recent historical scholarship 3 Classification of casualties 4 Human losses by country 4.1 Total deaths 4.2 Third Reich 4.3 USSR 4.4 Holocaust deaths 4.5 Japanese war crimes 4.6 Repression in the Soviet Union 4.7 Military casualties by branch of service 4.8 Commonwealth military casualties 5 Charts and graphs 6 See also 7 Footnotes 8 References 9 External links

Total dead

Killing of Jews at Ivangorod, Ukraine, 1942. A woman protects a child with her body as Einsatzgruppen soldiers aim their rifles.

Dead Soviet soldiers, January 1942. Officially, roughly 8.7 million Soviet soldiers died in the course of the war.

World War II fatality statistics vary, with estimates of total dead ranging from 50 million to over 70 million.^[1] The sources cited in this article document an estimated death toll in World War II of 62 to 78 million, making it the deadliest war in world history in absolute terms of total dead but not in terms of deaths relative to the world population.

When scholarly sources differ on the number of deaths in a country, a range of war losses is given, in order to inform readers that the death toll is disputed. Civilians killed totaled from 40 to 52 million, including 13 to 20 million from war-related disease and famine. Total military dead: from 22 to 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war.

Recent historical scholarship

Recent historical scholarship has shed new insight into the topic of Second World War casualties. Research in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union has caused a revision of estimates of Soviet war dead.^[2] Estimated USSR losses within postwar borders now stand at 26.6 million.^[3] In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers estimated Poland's dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million.^[4]

The German Army historian Dr. Rüdiger Overmans published a study in 2000 that estimated German military dead and missing at 5.3 million.^[5] War dead totals in this article for theBritish Commonwealth are based on the research of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.^[6] Casualties listed here include about 4 to 12 million war-related famine deaths in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India that are often omitted from other compilations of World War II casualties.^[7][8]

Classification of casualties

Katyn 1943 exhumation. Photo by Polish Red Cross delegation.

Some nations in World War II suffered disproportionally more casualties than others. This is especially true regarding civilian casualties. The following chart gives data on the number of dead for each country, along with population information to show the relative impact of losses. Military figures include battle deaths (KIA) and personnel missing in action (MIA), as well as fatalities due to accidents, disease and deaths of prisoners of war in captivity. Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing, Holocaust victims, Japanese war crimes, population transfers in the Soviet Union, other War Crimes and deaths due to war related famine and disease. Compiling or estimating the numbers of deaths caused during wars and other violent conflicts is a controversial subject. Historians often put forward many different estimates of the numbers killed during World War II.^[9] The distinction between military and civilian casualtiescaused directly by warfare and collateral damage is not always clear cut. For nations that suffered huge losses such as the Soviet Union, China, Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia, our sources can give us only the total estimated population loss caused by the war and a rough estimate of the breakdown of deaths caused by military activity, crimes against humanity and war related famine. The footnotes give a detailed breakdown of the casualties and their sources, including data on the number of wounded where reliable sources are available.

Human losses by country

Total deaths

[hide] Human losses of World War II by country
(When the number of deaths in a country are disputed, a range of war losses is given)
(The sources of the figures are provided in the footnotes)
Country Total population 1/1/1939 Military deaths Civilian deaths due to military activity and crimes against humanity Total deaths Deaths as % of 1939 population  AlbaniaA 1,073,000 30,000 30,000 2.81  AustraliaB 6,998,000 39,800 700 40,500 0.57  Austria (German Controlled)C 6,650,000 Included with German Army 120,000 120,000 (see table below)  BelgiumD 8,387,000 12,100 75,900 88,000 1.05  BrazilE 40,289,000 1,000 1,000 2,000 0.02  BulgariaF 6,458,000 22,000 3,000 25,000 0.38  Burma(British)G 16,119,000 22,000 250,000 272,000 1.69  CanadaH 11,267,000 45,400 45,400 0.40  China I 517,568,000 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 7,000,000 to 16,000,000 10,000,000 to 20,000,000 (1.93 to 3.86)  CubaJ 4,235,000 100 100 0.00  CzechoslovakiaK 15,300,000(See Footnote) 25,000 300,000 325,000 2.12  DenmarkL 3,795,000 2,100 1,100 3,200 0.08  Dutch East IndiesM 69,435,000 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 (4.3 to 5.76)  Estonia (within 1939 borders)N 1,122,000 Included with the Soviet, German, and Finnish Armies 50,000 50,000 4.44  EthiopiaO 17,700,000 5,000 95,000 100,000 0.6  FinlandP 3,700,000 95,000 2,000 97,000 2.62  FranceQ 41,700,000 217,600including colonies 350,000 567,600 1.35  French IndochinaR 24,600,000 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 (4.07 to 6.1)  GermanyS 69,850,000 5,530,000 1,100,000 to 3,150,000 6,630,000 to 8,680,000 (see table below)  GreeceT 7,222,000 20,000 to 35,100 300,000 to 770,000 320,000 to 805,100 (4.44 to 11.15)  HungaryU 9,129,000 300,000 280,000 580,000 6.35  IcelandV 119,000 200 200 0.17  India (British)W 378,000,000 87,000 1,500,000 to 2,500,000 1,587,000 to 2,587,000 (0.42 to 0.68)  IranX 14,340,000 200 200 0.00  Iraq'Y 3,698,000 500 500 0.01  IrelandZ 2,960,000 200 200 0.00  ItalyAA 44,394,000 301,400 155,600 457,000 1.03  JapanAB 71,380,000 2,120,000 500,000 to 1,000,000 2,620,000 to 3,120,000 (3.67 to 4.37)  Korea Japanese ColonyAC 23,400,000 378,000 to 483,000 378,000 to 483,000 (1.6 to 2.06)  Latvia (within 1939 borders)AD 1,951,000 Included with the Soviet and German Armies 230,000 230,000 11.78  Lithuania (within 1939 borders)AE 2,442,000 Included with the Soviet and German Armies 350,000 350,000 14.33  LuxembourgAF 295,000 2,000 2,000 0.68  Malaya(British)AG 4,391,000 100,000 100,000 2.28  Malta(British)AH 269,000 1,500 1,500 0.56  MexicoAI 19,320,000 100 100 0.00  MongoliaAJ 819,000 300 300 0.04  Nauru(Australian)AK 3,400 500 500 14.7  Nepal BG 6,000,000 Included with British Indian Army  NetherlandsAL 8,729,000 17,000 284,000 301,000 3.45  Newfoundland(British)AM 300,000 included with the U.K. 100 100 0.03  New ZealandAN 1,629,000 11,900 11,900 0.73  NorwayAO 2,945,000 3,000 6,500 9,500 0.32  Papua and New Guinea(Australian)AP 1,292,000 15,000 15,000 1.17  Philippines (U.S. Territory)AQ 16,000,000 57,000 500,000 to 1,000,000 557,000 to 1,057,000 (3.48 to 6.6)  Poland (within 1939 borders)AR 34,849,000 240,000 5,380,000 to 5,580,000 5,620,000 to 5,820,000 (16.1 to 16.7)  Portuguese TimorAS 500,000 40,000 to 70,000 40,000 to 70,000 (8.00 to 14.00)  Romania (within 1939 borders)AT 19,934,000 300,000 500,000 800,000 4.01  Ruanda-Urundi(Belgian)AU 4,200,000 0 to 300,000 0 to 300,000 (0.00 to 7.1)  Singapore(British)AV 728,000 50,000 50,000 6.87  South AfricaAW 10,160,000 11,900 11,900 0.12  South Pacific Mandate(Japanese)AX 1,900,000 57,000 57,000 3.00  Soviet Union (see table below)AY 168,524,000 8,800,000 to 10,700,000 12,700,000 to 14,600,000 23,400,000 13.88  SpainAZ 25,637,000 Included with the German Army  SwedenBA 6,341,000 600 600 0.01  SwitzerlandBB 4,210,000 100 100 0.00  ThailandBC 15,023,000 5,600 2,000 7,600 0.04  TurkeyBD 17,370,000 200 200 0.00  United KingdomBE 47,760,000 383,800including colonies 67,100 450,900 0.94  United StatesBF 131,028,000 416,800 1,700 418,500 0.32  YugoslaviaBG 15,400,000 300,000 to 446,000 581,000 to 1,400,000 1,027,000 to 1,700,000 (6.67 to 11.0) Totals 1,995,537,400 22,426,600 to 25,487,500 37,585,300 to 55,883,000 62,171,600 to 79,184,700 (3.17 to 4.00)

• Figures rounded to the nearest hundredth place.

• Population in 1939 - Source: Population Statistics^[10]

• War losses are for the national boundaries of 1939.

• Military casualties include deaths of regular military forces from combat as well as non combat causes. Partisan and resistancefighter deaths forces are included with military losses. The deaths of prisoners of war in captivity and personnel missing in action are also included with military deaths. The armed forces of the various nations are treated as single entities, for example the deaths of Austrians, Soviets, French and ethnic Germans in the Wehrmacht are included with German military losses. There is no reliable breakout of the war dead from Africa and Asia in the armed forces of France and the UK. France and the UK have never published an ethnic breakout of their losses.

• Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing, Holocaust victims, Japanese war crimes, population transfers in the Soviet Union, Allied war crimes and deaths due to war related famine and disease. The exact breakdown is not always provided in the sources cited.

• Total Soviet losses in the postwar 1946–91 boundaries^[11] were 26.6 million. (13.5% of the total population of 196.7 million)^[12]

• Total Polish losses in the postwar 1946 boundaries^[13] were about 3,600,000 (15.8% of the total population of 23.3 million)^[14]

• Total Romanian losses in the postwar 1946 boundaries.^[15] were 500,000 (2.5% of the total population of 15.9 million)^[16]

• Total losses of Czechoslovakia in the post war 1946-1991 borders were about 250,000 (1.9% of the total population of 14.6 million.)^[17]

Third Reich

Main article: German casualties in World War II

[hide] Human Losses of The Third Reich in World War II (Included in above figures of total war dead)

Country Population 1939 Military deaths Civilian deaths Total deaths Deaths as % of 1939 population Austria 6,650,000 260,000 120,000 380,000 5.7 Germany (within 1937 borders,Danzig & Memel Territory) 69,850,000 4,450,000 1,050,000 to 2,450,000 5,500,000 to 6,900,000 7.9 to 10.0 Ethnic Germans and other nations 6,700,000 600,000 50,000 to 700,000 650,000 to 1,300,000 9.7 to 19.4 Soviet citizens in the German military 800,000 220,000 220,000 27.5 Totals 84,000,000 5,530,000 1,220,000 to 3,270,000 6,750,000 to 8,800,000 8.0 to 10.5 Sources: See footnotes for Germany and Austria [8]

USSR

Main article: World War II casualties of the Soviet Union

[hide] Human Losses of The USSR in World War II (Included in the above figures of total war dead)

Country Population 1939 Military deaths Civilian deaths Total deaths Deaths as % of 1939 population  Soviet Union (within 1939 borders)[9] 168,524,000 8,800,000 to 10,700,000 14,600,000 to 12,700,000 23,400,000 13.9  Estonia (within 1939 borders) 1,122,000 50,000 50,000 4.5  Latvia (within 1939 borders) 1,951,000 230,000 230,000 11.6  Lithuania (within 1939 borders[18][19]) 2,442,000 350,000 350,000 14.5  Poland Eastern Regions- (figures included with Poland) 11,591,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 17.2  Romania Bessarabia & Bukovina (figures included with Romania) 3,700,000 300,000 300,000 8.1  Czechoslovakia[10]-Carpathian Ruthenia (figures included with Czechoslovakia) 700,000 50,000 50,000 7.1 Less: Population Transfers -Net[20][21][22] (1,237,000) Growth of Population 1939–mid-1941 7,923,000 Soviet deaths included in the German Military 220,000 220,000 Total population of USSR in June 1941, within postwar 1946-1991 borders[11] 196,716,000 8,800,000 to 10,700,000 17,800,000 to 15,900,000 26,600,000 13.5 Source for Population of Poland, Romania and Baltic States is League of Nations Yearbook 1942-1944[23] The borders of the USSR in 1941 are de facto not de jure. The occupation of the Baltic States by the USSR was considered illegal and never recognized by the United States. The formal transfer of the Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union occurred after the war in a treaty of August 1945. The Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union included the Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and the Vilnius region,less Białystok(Population 1,392,000) which reverted to Poland after the war.