A year ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. The microscopic coronavirus has somehow changed the lives of all 7.8 billion people on Earth.
While the long-term impact of this global health crisis may take years to understand, the immediate effect has already changed the world as we know it. In the following infographics, we break down the latest numbers and reports to help you understand the global impact of the pandemic.
For each topic we looked at the most complete and reliable datasets available worldwide. The numbers are often presented as averages across a country, so it is important to remember that averages can mask inequalities, especially when it comes to under-reported areas or populations at risk.
Main causes of death
Worldwide, at least 2.7 million people have died from COVID-19. While the top global causes of death for 2020 have not yet been published, COVID is among the top five biggest killers compared to 2019.
In 2019, 55.4 million people died worldwide. Heart disease killed most people (8.9 million), followed by strokes (6.2 million) and lung disease (3.2 million). Collectively, these are known as non-communicable diseases, which means that they are not transmitted between people. The highly contagious coronavirus, on the other hand, is a communicable disease.
The image below shows how one year of deaths from coronavirus compares to the leading causes of death in 2019.
In the US, the country with the highest number of COVID-19 deaths, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that the coronavirus killed more Americans (540,000) in one year than the flu in the last 10 years combined (368,000).
Mental health
The WHO estimates that nearly a billion people worldwide live with a mental disorder. In 2019, 703,000 people took their own lives, making suicide the 17th most common cause of death. Despite this, countries only spend about 2 percent of their national health budgets on mental health.
The UN has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to lead to an increase in the number and severity of mental health problems in the long run. The evidence regarding the mental health consequences of lockdowns and social aloofness is still being studied. While we don’t have large-scale data on the effect COVID-19 has had on mental health worldwide, several smaller studies (pdf) indicate higher rates of anxiety and depression.
Below are five tips from Dr. Devora Kestel, director of the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Division at WHO, on protecting our mental health.
Worldwide lockdowns
A pandemic is by definition a worldwide spread of a disease. It is estimated that more than two-thirds of the world’s population has undergone lockdown measures lasting weeks to months.
According to data collected by the Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, more than 100 countries and territories will have resumed stay-at-home orders by 2021, with some exceptions, such as for essential travel, daily exercise, or grocery shopping.
The image below provides an overview of the duration of national lockdowns for 12 months (January 16, 2020 – January 15, 2021).
Trillions wiped out
The World Bank estimates that the global economy contracted 4.3 percent in 2020, wiping out trillions of dollars. Countries already facing economic hardship continued to fall into debt. A report from Oxfam International estimates it could take more than a decade for the world’s poorest people to recover from the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the bright side, the World Bank expects the global economy to grow by 4 percent in 2021, with the introduction of vaccines and investment leading the recovery.
The image below shows the effect of COVID-19 on the global economy. Every major economy except China’s shrank in the course of 2020. Other countries that saw their gross domestic product (GDP) grow include Bangladesh (2%), Benin (2%), Burundi (0.3%), Egypt (3.6%), Ethiopia (6.1%), Ghana (1.1%), Guinea (5.2%), Guyana (23.2%), Ivory Coast (1.8%), Myanmar (1 , 7%), Nepal (0.2%), Niger (1%), South Sudan (9.3%), Tajikistan (2.2%), Tanzania (2.5%), Turkey (0.5% ), Uzbekistan (0.6%) and Vietnam (2.8%).
This in no way suggests that these countries were better off after the coronavirus. Instead, several of these countries were expected to achieve even higher growth before the pandemic, while several others relied on lending to support their economies.
Global poverty and unemployment
The coronavirus has hit the poor disproportionately. For the first time in 20 years, world poverty is likely to increase significantly. The World Bank estimates that the coronavirus has pushed between 119 and 124 million more people into extreme poverty. That brings the total number of people living on less than $ 1.90 a day to 730 million, which is roughly 10 percent of the world’s population.
In 2020, 114 million people lost their jobs, according to the latest unemployment figures from the International Labor Organization (ILO). But just looking at the official unemployment figures is not enough to measure unemployment. As the ILO notes, many more workers have fallen into “economic inactivity”. This meant they had to withdraw from the workforce. Many more people may be employed, but with reduced working hours or wage cuts.
Women and younger workers have been most affected, raising concerns about growing gender inequality and a lost generation of workers.
In addition, the United Nations Development Program has warned that nearly half of all jobs in Africa could be wiped out as a result of the pandemic.
The rich got richer
A report (pdf) released by Oxfam International, a UK-based charity, said the pandemic has hurt people living in poverty much harder than the wealthy. The hardest hit are women, black people, African descendants, indigenous peoples and historically marginalized and oppressed communities around the world, the report said.
To put that income inequality in perspective, a report by the Swiss Bank UBS found that the world’s richest people saw their wealth increase by $ 3.9 trillion between March and December 2020. The 10 richest billionaires increased their net worth by $ 540 billion during this period.
Many of the world’s richest men, including Elon Musk (US), Zhong Shanshan (China) and Mukesh Ambani (India), have seen their wealth more than double since the pandemic was declared.
1.7 billion students do not go to school
By 2020, school and college closures disrupted the education of more than 1.7 billion students from 188 countries, or about 99 percent of the world’s student population, according to UNESCO.
Today, nearly 900 million students, more than half of the world’s student population, still face severe disruptions in education, ranging from school closures in 29 countries to reduced or part-time classes in 68 others, according to the latest UNESCO data .
While online schooling allowed classes to continue virtually, the UN estimates that nearly 500 million children, especially in poorer countries or rural areas, have been excluded from distance learning due to a lack of technology or policy.
Oxfam estimates that the pandemic will reverse the last 20 years of global progress in girls’ education and further exacerbate poverty and inequality.
Worst year for air travel
In 2019, more than 4.5 billion passengers worldwide took 38 million flights. With lockdowns and quarantines for most of 2020, many travel plans have been canceled or postponed.
According to the International Air Transport Association, demand for international passengers has fallen 75.6 percent in 2020 from 2019.
Global flight tracking service Flightradar24 also registered a 42 percent decline in commercial flights from 2019. Many airlines were forced to operate cargo flights only to stock supermarket shelves and fulfill online orders.
Interlocks from space
On the left are images taken before locking, as opposed to locked images taken in March 2020 to show the impact of the pandemic on cities around the world. Unprecedented lockdowns cleared streets, disrupted travel and slowed economic activity – temporarily reducing air pollution.
Below, we see how Mecca, Wuhan and Venice all saw a sharp drop in visitor numbers a few weeks after the pandemic. View satellite images of more cities here.
Pollution levels
In the first weeks of COVID lockdowns, there were reports of clearer and less polluted airspace. Residents of Venice, Italy, for example, reported clear running water in the normally busy canals for the first time in years.
However, this appears to have been short lived. A recent report from the International Energy Agency found that while global energy-related CO2 emissions fell by a total of 5.8 percent in 2020 – the largest annual percentage drop since World War II – the latest data shows that global CO2 pollution reverts to pre-COVID levels.
Professor Ralph Keeling, head of the Scripps CO2 program, explained the situation in May 2020: “People may be surprised to learn that the response to the coronavirus outbreak has not done more to affect CO2 levels. The build-up of CO2 is a bit like waste in a landfill. As we keep broadcasting, it keeps piling up. “
