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We do have a better metric. It’s “years of life lost” (YLL) and it is a commonly used metric for the exact reasons you mentioned. My guess as to why you rarely

We do have a better metric. It’s “years of life lost” (YLL) and it is a commonly used metric for the exact reasons you mentioned. My guess as to why you rarely see it being used outside of the scientific community is because “number of deaths” drives more clicks. https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr-details/159 https://www.who.int/data/gho/indicator-metadata-registry/imr...

umvi 4y ago
I remember COVID deaths being compared to WW2 deaths by the media a few years ago. If YLL were used instead I think (but don't know for certain) that WW2 would be much more egregious.
- watwut 4y ago
  WW2 happened to kill significantly more civilians then soldiers. And among those, old, sick, poor and weak died the most. Babies and small kids too, so it is not entirely clear how exactly it would cut.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    The majority of covid deaths would be toward the elderly range. Almost every soldier death would be 18-25. I suspect the civilian would lean older but I don’t think it would entirely offset it.
    - t0bia_s 4y ago
      You would be surprised, but most of those 6 millions that died in concentration camps was not soldiers.
    - watwut 4y ago
      > Almost every soldier death would be 18-25. Absolutely not true. The age at which countries recruited were up to 45 normally (united states) or even 60 (Germany UK) and in Germany every able bodied male eventually ended in some kind of unit - if only home defense. Starting with 14 actually. The ration of civilians to soldiers killed is 3:2 to 2:1.
      - bombcar 4y ago
        British average was 27in ww 1. I was off by a few years. http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/greatwar/ages-of-the-dead/ http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/greatwar/ages-of-the-dead/ Certainly lower than 55+, though ww2 could be moderately higher than 27 I doubt it.
        watwut 4y ago
        Average being 27 and almost all being in 18-25 range are massively different statements. The civilian to soldier death ration in wwi was different. The civilians were not directly targeted the way they were in wwii. The ideologization was lower and population itself was not the enemy the way it was in wwii. Also, both Amrica and UK sent soldiers away to fight. UK was bombed, but did not had large displacement of population or ethnic cleansing or retaliation for those going on in their territories. Modern wars kill more civilians then soldiers.
    - dasudasu 4y ago
      The average age of an American soldier in WW2 was 26.
      - SoftTalker 4y ago
        Is that just combat soldiers or is that all military including the officer ranks?
        watwut 4y ago
        I would guess all given those two options. Officers are involved in combat situations. More importantly, huge amount of soldiers is needed for logistic - it can be over 50% or even more for logistics. Excluding officers and keeping in logistics would not make much sense. (Tho logistics does not mean safe either).

umvi 4y ago

I remember COVID deaths being compared to WW2 deaths by the media a few years ago. If YLL were used instead I think (but don't know for certain) that WW2 would be much more egregious.

watwut 4y ago
WW2 happened to kill significantly more civilians then soldiers. And among those, old, sick, poor and weak died the most. Babies and small kids too, so it is not entirely clear how exactly it would cut.
- bombcar 4y ago
  The majority of covid deaths would be toward the elderly range. Almost every soldier death would be 18-25. I suspect the civilian would lean older but I don’t think it would entirely offset it.
  - t0bia_s 4y ago
    You would be surprised, but most of those 6 millions that died in concentration camps was not soldiers.
  - watwut 4y ago
    > Almost every soldier death would be 18-25. Absolutely not true. The age at which countries recruited were up to 45 normally (united states) or even 60 (Germany UK) and in Germany every able bodied male eventually ended in some kind of unit - if only home defense. Starting with 14 actually. The ration of civilians to soldiers killed is 3:2 to 2:1.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      British average was 27in ww 1. I was off by a few years. http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/greatwar/ages-of-the-dead/ http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/greatwar/ages-of-the-dead/ Certainly lower than 55+, though ww2 could be moderately higher than 27 I doubt it.
      - watwut 4y ago
        Average being 27 and almost all being in 18-25 range are massively different statements. The civilian to soldier death ration in wwi was different. The civilians were not directly targeted the way they were in wwii. The ideologization was lower and population itself was not the enemy the way it was in wwii. Also, both Amrica and UK sent soldiers away to fight. UK was bombed, but did not had large displacement of population or ethnic cleansing or retaliation for those going on in their territories. Modern wars kill more civilians then soldiers.
  - dasudasu 4y ago
    The average age of an American soldier in WW2 was 26.
    - SoftTalker 4y ago
      Is that just combat soldiers or is that all military including the officer ranks?
      - watwut 4y ago
        I would guess all given those two options. Officers are involved in combat situations. More importantly, huge amount of soldiers is needed for logistic - it can be over 50% or even more for logistics. Excluding officers and keeping in logistics would not make much sense. (Tho logistics does not mean safe either).