Chart: World War II Casualties as a Percentage of Each Country’s Population

World War I was supposed to the “War to End all Wars”. However many years later World War II followed. The death toll in WW II was enormous with millions of lives lost on the allies side and the enemies side. After WW II new smaller wars led to more deaths.

I came across a fascinating chart today that showed the death toll for each country in WWII. Unlike so many other charts, this chart puts the toll in perspective since it measures the casualties as percentage of each country’s then total population. Based on this logic, the countries with the largest death toll were Poland, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

Click to enlarge

Caption: Baumermann 3509 Tote im Zweiten Weltkrieg 2. Weltkrieg WK2 Bevölkerung Titel Datum: 24. August 2009 World War II Casualties Death toll as a percentage of each country's 1939 population*

Datum: 24. August 2009
World War II Casualties
Death toll as a percentage of each country’s 1939 population*

Source: The Road to World War II: How Appeasement Failed to Stop Hitler, Der Spiegel

At 0.30%, the U.S. had the lowest death toll percentage as a percentage of total population at that time. This does not mean American sacrifices were small compared to other countries. In fact, 450,000 Americans lost their lives and the US was the main driving force among the western allies. In addition, millions of American soldiers were injured and suffered as well. The sheer US military power and technological superiority helped European countries and the world put an end to the senseless war.


1.World War 2 Deaths to a Country Population Percentage:

Click to enlarge

Source: Unknown

2.Fraction of a Country’s Population to deaths in WW2:

Source: Wikipedia

3.World War II Deaths by Country:

Click to enlarge


4.World War II Deaths by Country in Pie Chart Format:



5.World War II Deaths by Country in Bar Chart:

Source: Wikimedia

6.Human Losses of World War Two by Country:


Source: Wikipedia

7.World War II Military Deaths:


8.World War 2 Deaths by Country in Map:

Source: Pinterest

9.World War 2 Deaths by Percentage of Pre-war Population of each Country:

Source: Pinterest

10.World War 2 Deaths by Country in World Map:


Source: TargetMap

11. World War II Fatalities by Country:

Source: Historical Non-Fiction

12. World War 2 Deaths by Country and Percentage of Population:

Click to enlarge

Source: The Causes and Consequences of World War II, WSWS

An excerpt from the above article:

The human cost of World War II exceeded by far that of the First World War. Military deaths totaled twenty-two to twenty-five million, including the deaths of five million prisoners of war. Let us examine the death tolls suffered by a number of countries most directly involved in the maelstrom. Poland lost more than 16 percent of its population. The Soviet Union lost approximately 14 percent. Eleven percent of the population of Greece was killed. Other countries that lost at least 10 percent of their populations were Lithuania and Latvia. Other countries that lost at least 3 percent of their people were Estonia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania, Singapore and Yugoslavia.


  1. Jude
    Thanks for comment. I did not know that detail.
    I posted the above chart from Der Speigel. Unfortunately they did not include New Zealand’s contribution when using the data. Sorry about that.


  2. Funfact- new Zealand been the furthest from war zones in w.w.1 and 2 had too see it through too bitter end. They did not fly or ship home like germans

  3. where’s the “most important” part of the chart? Jews? matter how many people died anywhere they’re the ones that matter the most. from what I’m hearing

  4. Well the chart shows the casualties as percentage of population for each country. It does not go specific like how many were jews, gypsies, etc. You may have heard what you are saying above, but in the grand scheme of things all people matter and not just the “most important” ones whoever they may be.

  5. Thank you for this information. From this statistics I start to appreciate why Russia commemorates the victory of winning the war. The shear number of their casualties – both military and civilian is horrific. I grew up believing the propaganda that the US won the war. It has only been within the past few years that I came to realise the untold stories. I find it strange that although the US joined toward the end of the war, their death toll at 405K is more than GB at 386K? Anyway, the horror of war must not be forgotten – although unfortunately the warring has not stopped. People, countries /leaders always find some good “cause” (or excuse) to go to war.

  6. Viti – Glad you like this post. Yes the Russian deaths were very high compared to other countries. I agree war takes a tremendous toll on not only military but also civilians. Hence wars should be avoided at all costs.

Leave a Reply
