List of epidemics

This article is a list of major pandemics and epidemics caused by infectious diseases in human history. Epidemics caused by non-communicable diseases are not on this list.

Top epidemics by death toll

These are pandemics more than 1 million death. Events in boldface are ongoing. For a given epidemic, the average of its estimated death toll range is used for ranking. If the death toll averages of two or more epidemics equal, then the smaller the range, the higher the rank. The most fatal pandemic was the Black Death in Europe duirng the Middle Age. The current pandemics are HIV/AIDS and COVID-19.

Epidemics and pandemics with at least 1 million deaths

Rank	Epidemics/pandemics	Disease	Death toll	Date	Location
1	Black Death	Bubonic plague	75–200 million	1346–1353	Europe, Asia, and North Africa
2	Spanish flu	Influenza A/H1N1	17–100 million	1918-1920	Worldwide
3	Plague of Justinian	Bubonic plague	15–100 million	541–549	Europe and West Asia
4	HIV/AIDS pandemic	HIV/AIDS	35 million+ (As of 2019)	1981-present	Worldwide
5	Third plague pandemic	Plague	12–15 million	1855-1960	Worldwide
6	Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548	Cocoliztli	5–15 million	1545–1548	Mexico
7	Antonine Plague	Smallpox or measles	5–10 million	165–180	Roman Empire
8	1520 Mexico smallpox epidemic	Smallpox	5–8 million	1519–1520	Mexico
9	COVID-19 pandemic	COVID-19	3 million+ (As of April 2021)	2019-present	Worldwide
10	1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic	Typhus	2–3 million	1918–1922	Russia
11	Asian Flu	Influenza A/H2N2	1–4 million	1957-1958	Worldwide
	Hong Kong flu	Influenza A/H3N2		1968-1970	Worldwide
13	1772–1773 Persian Plague	Bubonic plague	2 million+	1772-1773	Persia (Present day in Iran)
14	735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic	Smallpox	2 million	735-737	Japan
16	Naples Plague	Plague	1.25 million	1656-1658	Italy
17	Third cholera pandemic	Cholera	1 million+	1846-1860	Worldwide
18	1629–1631 Italian plague	Bubonic plague	1 million	1629-1631	Italy
	1889–1890 flu pandemic	Influenza		1889-1890	Worldwide

Worldwide Pandemics

Pandemic	Disease	Date	Location	Death toll (estimate)
Third cholera pandemic	cholera	1852–1860	Worldwide	1 million
Third plague pandemic	bubonic plague	1855–1950	Worldwide	12-15 million
1889–1890 flu pandemic	Influenza	1889–1890	Worldwide	1 million
1918 flu pandemic	Influenza (H1N1 strain)	1918–1920	Worldwide	15-100 million
Asian Flu	Influenza (H2N2 strain)	1957–1958	Worldwide	1-4 million
Hong Kong flu	Influenza (H3N2 strain)	1968–1969	Worldwide	1-4 million
Russian Flu	Influenza (H1N1 strain)	1977-1979	Worldwide	700,000
HIV/AIDS pandemic	HIV/AIDS	1981–present	Worldwide	32 million+
2009 flu pandemic	Influenza (H1N1 as new strain)	2009-2010	Worldwide	284,000 (175,000-575,000)
COVID-19 pandemic	COVID-19	2019-present	Worldwide	3 million+ (As of May 2021)

Chronology of Pandemics/Epidemic in History

These are the pandemics in the history. Current pandemic are in bold (HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemic).

Epidemic	Disease	Date	Location	Death toll (estimate)
Plague of Athens	Unknown, probably typhoid	430-425 BCE	Greece	75,000-100,000
412 BC Epidemic	Unknown, possibly an influenza	412 BCE
Antonine Plague	Unknown, possibly smallpox	165-180	Roman Empire	5-10 million
Plague of Cyprian	Unknown, possibly smallpox	c. 250-265	Europe
Plague of Justinian	Bubonic Plague	541-542	Europe and West Asia	25-100 million (20-60% of European population)
Japanese smallpox epidemic	Smallpoc	735-737	Japan	2 million
Black Death	Bubonic Plague	c. 1346-1352	Europe, Asia and North Africa	75-200 million (40-60% of European population)
Mexican Smallpox	Smallpox	1519-1520	Mexico	5-8 million
Cocoliztli Epidemic	Cocoliztli	1545-1578		5-15 million
Italian Plague	Bubonic Plague	1629-1631	Italy	1 million
Naples Plague	Bubonic Plague	1656-1658		1.25 million
Great Plague of London	Bubonic Plague	1665-1666	United Kingdom	100,000+
Persian Plague	Bubonic Plague	1772-1773	Persia (Iran)	2 million
First cholera outbreak	Cholera	1817-1824	Asia	100,000+
Second cholera outbreak	Cholera	1826-1837	Europe, Asia, North America	100,000+
Third cholera outbreak	Cholera	1846-1860	Europe and Asia	1 million+
Third Plague pandemic	Bubonic Plague	1855-1960	Worldwide	12-15 million
Fourth cholera outbreak	Cholera	1863-1875	Europe, Asia, Africa	500,000
Fifth cholera outbreak	Cholera	1881-1896	Europe, Asia, Africa, South America	200,000+
1889-1890 flu pandemic	Influenza	1889-1890	Worldwide	1 million
Sixth cholera outbreak	Cholera	1899-1923	Europe, Asia, Africa	800,000+
Spanish Flu	Influenza	1918-1920	Worldwide	20-100 million (Death rate: 1-4.5%)
Russian Typhus epidemic	Typhus	1918-1922	Russia	2-3 million
Asian Flu	Influenza (H2N2)	1957-1958	Worldwide	1-4 million (estimate)
Hong Kong Flu	Influenza (H3N2)	1968-1969
Russian Flu	Influenza (H1N1)	1977-1979		700,000
HIV/AIDS Pandemic	HIV/AIDS	1981-present		32 million+ (As of 2019)
2002-04 SARS outbreak	SARS-CoV	2002-2004	Asia	774
2009 flu pandemic	Influenza (H1N1)	2009-2010	Worldwide	200,000+ (Range of 150,000-500,000)
MERS (Coronavirus)	MERS-CoV	2012-2015	Middle East, South Korea	900+ (As of 2020)
African Ebola epidemic	Ebola virus	2013-2016	West Africa	10,000+
2017-18 United States seasonal flu	Seasonal flu	2017-2018	United States	60,000 (45,000-90,000)
Yemen cholera	Cholera	2016-present	Yemen	3,800+ (As of 2020)
COVID-19 pandemic	COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2)	2019-present	Worldwide	3 million+ (As of April 2021)