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World population was also much smaller. The Spanish flu killed 50 million people. That’s 5% of the word population at the time. Now 50 million would barley be
by thepangolino 6y ago
World population was also much smaller.
The Spanish flu killed 50 million people. That’s 5% of the word population at the time. Now 50 million would barley be over half a percent.
- roenxi 6y agoFor anyone interested, the world population in the 1940s was ~30% of what it currently is.
- leereeves 6y agoWhile we're correcting facts, we should also note that over 70 million people died in WW2.[1] COVID doesn't come close, not even on a yearly basis. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_casualties
- makomk 6y agoYeah, the trick is that they're comparing to US World War 2 deaths when almost all the deaths from the war were elsewhere. For context, Wikipedia seems to reckon that the UK had more total WW2 deaths than the US despite being a rather smaller country, and we weren't the worst affected even within western Europe by a long shot.
- ianlevesque 6y agoIt’s no “trick.” World War 2 is considered a historic loss of American life, and we just topped it.
- bauerd 6y agoIt is not about fatality rates. It is about health systems getting overwhelmed