Estimates for the total casualties of World War II, Most suggest that some 60 million people died in the world war II, including about 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians. Many civilians died because of disease, starvation, massacres, bombing and deliberate genocide. The Soviet Union lost around 27 million people during the war, almost half of all World War II deaths. One of every four Soviet citizens was killed or wounded in that war.

Of the total deaths in World War II approximately 85 percent—mostly Soviet and Chinese—were on the Allied side and 15 percent on the Axis side. Many of these deaths were caused by war crimes committed by German and Japanese forces in occupied territories. An estimated 11 to 17 million civilians died as a direct or indirect result of Nazi ideological policies, including the systematic genocide of around six million Jews during The Holocaust along with a further five million Roma, Slavs, homosexuals and other ethnic and minority groups. Roughly 7.5 million civilians died in China under Japanese occupation, and the Serbs were targeted by the Axis-aligned Croatian Ustaše.

The most well-known Japanese atrocity was the Nanking Massacre, in which several hundred thousand Chinese civilians were raped and murdered. Between 3 million to more than 10 million civilians, mostly Chinese, were killed by the Japanese occupation forces. Mitsuyoshi Himeta reported 2.7 million casualties occurred during the Sankō Sakusen. General Yasuji Okamura implemented the policy in Heipei and Shantung.

The Axis forces employed limited biological and chemical weapons. The Italians used mustard gas during their conquest of Abyssinia, while the Japanese Imperial Army used a variety of such weapons during their invasion and occupation of China (see Unit 731)[272][273] and in early conflicts against the Soviets. Both the Germans and Japanese tested such weapons against civilians and, in some cases, on prisoners of war.

While many of the Axis's acts were brought to trial in the world's first international tribunals, incidents caused by the Allies were not. Examples of such Allied actions include population transfer in the Soviet Union and Japanese American internment in the United States; the Operation Keelhaul, expulsion of Germans after World War II, mass rape of German women by Soviet Red Army; the Soviet Union's Katyn massacre, for which Germans faced counter-accusations of responsibility; the mass-bombing of civilian areas in enemy territory, including Tokyo and most notably the German cities of Dresden, Hamburg, and Cologne by Western Allies, resulting in the destruction of more than 160 cities and killing a total of more than 600.000 German civilians. Large numbers of famine deaths can also be partially attributed to the war, such as the Bengal famine of 1943 and the Vietnamese famine of 1944–45.

World War II Casualties: Total dead

World War II casualty statistics vary greatly. Estimates of total dead range from 50 million to over 70 million. The sources cited on this page document an estimated death toll in World War II of 62 to 78 million, making it the deadliest war ever. When scholarly sources differ on the number of deaths in a country, a range of war losses is given, in order to inform readers that the death toll is disputed. Civilians killed totaled from 40 to 52 million, including 13 to 20 million from war-related disease and famine. Total military dead: from 22 to 25 million, including deaths in captivity of about 5 million prisoners of war.

Recent historical scholarship

Recent historical scholarship has shed new insight into the topic of Second World War casualties. Research in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union has caused a revision of estimates of Soviet war dead. Estimated USSR losses within postwar borders now stand at 26.6 million. In August 2009 the Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) researchers estimated Poland's dead at between 5.6 and 5.8 million.

The German Army historian Dr. Rüdiger Overmans published a study in 2000 that estimated German military dead and missing at 5.3 million. War dead totals on this page for the British Commonwealth are based on the research of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Casualties listed here include about 4 to 12 million war-related famine deaths in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, India that are often omitted from other compilations of World War II casualties.

World War II Casualties of Human losses by country

Some nations in World War II suffered disproportionally more casualties than others. This is especially true regarding civilian casualties. The following chart gives data on the number of dead for each country, along with population information to show the relative impact of losses. Military figures include battle deaths (KIA) and personnel missing in action (MIA), as well as fatalities due to accidents, disease and deaths of prisoners of war in captivity. Civilian casualties include deaths caused by strategic bombing, Nazi persecution, Japanese war crimes, population transfers in the Soviet Union, Allied war crimes and deaths due to war related famine and disease. Jewish losses in the Holocaust are listed separately for each nation, since they are known. Compiling or estimating the numbers of deaths caused during wars and other violent conflicts is a controversial subject. Historians often put forward many different estimates of the numbers killed during World War II. The distinction between military and civilian casualties caused directly by warfare and collateral damage is not always clear cut. For nations that suffered huge losses such as the U.S.S.R., China, Poland, Germany and Yugoslavia, our sources can give us only the total estimated population loss caused by the war and a rough estimate of the breakdown of deaths caused by military activity, crimes against humanity and war related famine. The footnotes give a detailed breakdown of the casualties and their sources, including data on the number of wounded where reliable sources are available.


Human losses of World War II by country
(Details provided in the footnotes)
Country Military
deaths		 Civilian deaths due to
war and repression		 Jewish Holocaust
deaths (see notes)		 Total
deaths		 Deaths as % of
1939 population
Albania 30,000
200 30,200 2.81
Australia 39,800 700
40,500 0.57
Austria
58,700 65,000 123,700 see table below
Belgium 12,100 49,600 24,400 86,100 1.02
Brazil 1,000 1,000
2,000 0.02
Bulgaria 22,000 3,000
25,000 0.38
Burma 22,000 250,000
272,000 1.69
Canada 45,400

45,400 0.40
China 3,000,000
to 4,000,000		 7,000,000
to 16,000,000
10,000,000
to 20,000,000		 1.93
to 3.86
Cuba
100
100 0.00
Czechoslovakia 25,000 43,000 277,000 345,000 2.25
Denmark 2,100 1,000 100 3,200 0.08
Dutch East Indies]
3,000,000
to 4,000,000
3,000,000
to 4,000,000		 4.3
to 5.76
Estonia (within 1939 borders)
50,000 1,000 51,000 4.50
Ethiopia 5,000 95,000
100,000 0.6
Finland 95,000 2,000
97,000 2.62
France 217,600 267,000 83,000 567,600 1.35
French Indochina
1,000,000
to 1,500,000
1,000,000
to 1,500,000		 4.07
to 6.1
Germany 5,533,000 900,000
to 3,170,000		 160,000 6,593,000
to 8,863,000		 see table below
Greece 20,000
to 35,100		 220,000
to 700,500		 69,500 309,500
to 805,100		 4.29
to 11.15
Hungary 300,000 80,000 200,000 580,000 6.35
Iceland
200
200 0.17
India 87,000 1,500,000
to 2,500,000
1,587,000
to 2,587,000		 0.43
to 0.66
Iran 200

200 0.00
Iraq 500

500 0.01
Ireland
200
200 0.00
Italy 301,400 145,100 10,500 457,000 1.03
Japan 2,120,000 580,000
2,700,000 3.78
Korea
378,000
to 483,000
378,000
to 483,000		 1.6
to 2.06
Latvia (within 1939 borders)
147,000 80,000 227,000 11.38
Lithuania (within 1939 borders)
212,000 141,000 353,000 13.71
Luxembourg
1,300 700 2,000 0.68
Malaya
100,000
100,000 2.28
Malta
1,500
1,500 0.56
Mexico
100
100 0.00
Mongolia 300

300 0.04
Australia Nauru
500
500 14.7
Netherlands 17,000 180,000 104,000 301,000 3.45
Newfoundland included with U.K. 100
100 0.03
New Zealand 11,900

11,900 0.73
Norway 3,000 5,800 700 9,500 0.32
Australia Papua and New Guinea
15,000
15,000 1.17
Philippines 57,000 500,000
to 1,000,000
557,000
to 1,057,000		 3.48
to 6.6
Poland (within 1939 borders) 240,000 2,380,000
to 2,580,000		 3,000,000 5,620,000
to 5,820,000		 16.1
to 16.7
Portuguese Timor
40,000
to 70,000
40,000
to 70,000		 8.00
to 14.00
Romania (within 1939 borders) 300,000 64,000 469,000 833,000 4.22
Belgium Ruanda-Urundi
0
to300,000
0 to 300,000 0.00to
7.1%
Singapore
50,000
50,000 6.87
South Africa 11,900

11,900 0.12
Japan South Pacific Mandate
57,000
57,000 3.00
Soviet Union (see table below) 8,800,000
to 10,700,000		 12,254,000
to 14,154,000		 1,000,000 23,954,000 14.21
Spain 4,500

4,500 0.02
Sweden
600
600 0.01
Switzerland
100
100 0.00
Thailand 5,600 2,000
7,700 0.04
United Kingdom 383,600 67,100
450,700 0.94
United States 416,800 1,700
418,500 0.32
Yugoslavia 446,000 514,000 67,000 1,027,000 6.67
Totals 22,576,700
to 25,491,800		 32,246,500
to 49,532,200		 5,753,100 62,476,670
to 78,878,170		 3.17
to 4.00

Third Reich
Human Losses of The Third Reich in World War II (Included in above figures)
Country Population
1939		 Military
deaths		 Civilian
deaths		 Jewish
Holocaust
deaths		 Total
deaths		 Deaths as
% of 1939
population
Austria 6,653,000 261,000 58,700 65,000 384,700 5.8
Germany (within 1937 borders) 69,310,000 4,456,000 700,000
to 2,284,000		 160,000 5,316,000
to 6,900,000		 7.7
to 9.9
Ethnic Germans from other nations 7,292,000 601,000 200,000
to 886,000
801,000
to 1,487,000		 11.0
to 20.4
Soviet citizens in the German military 800,000 215,000

215,000 26.9
Totals 84,045,000 5,533,000 958,700
to 3,228,700		 225,000 6,716,700
to 8,986,700		 8.0
to 10.7
Sources: See footnotes for Germany and Austria

USSR
Human Losses of The USSR in World War II (Included in the above figures)
Country Military
deaths		 Civilian
deaths		 Jewish
Holocaust
deaths		 Total
deaths		 Deaths as
% of 1939
population
Soviet Union
(within 1939 borders)		 8,800,000
to 10,700,000		 12,254,000
to 14,154,000		 1,000,000 23,954,000 14
Estonia
(within 1939 borders)
50,000 1,000 51,000 5
Latvia
(within 1939 borders)
147,000 80,000 227,000 11
Lithuania
(within 1939 borders)
212,000 141,000 353,000 14.7
Poland
Eastern Regions-Less:Białystok
(figures included with Poland)
500,000 1,000,000 1,500,000 13
Romania
Bessarabia & Bukovina
(figures included with Romania)
100,000 200,000 300,000 8.1
Less: Population Transfers -Net




Growth of Population 1939–mid 1941




Soviet deaths included in the German Military


215,000
Total population for USSR June 1941, in postwar 1946 borders 8,800,000
to 10,700,000		 15,163,000
to 13,263,000		 2,472,000 26,600,000 13.5
The borders of the USSR in 1941 are de facto not de jure.
*The occupation of the Baltic States by the USSR was considered illegal and never recognized by the United States.
*The formal transfer of the Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union occurred after the war in a treaty of August 1945.
*The former Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union included the Western Ukraine, Western Belarus and the Vilnius region,less Białystok which reverted to Poland after the war.

Notes

  • Figures rounded to the nearest hundredth place.
  • Population in 1939 - Source: Population Statistics
  • War losses are for the national boundaries of 1939.
  • Total Soviet losses in the postwar 1946–91 boundaries were 26.6 million.
  • Total Polish losses in the postwar 1946 boundaries were about 3,500,000.
  • Total Romanian losses in the postwar 1946 boundaries were 460,000
  • Military deaths - Losses include deaths of regular military forces from combat as well as non combat causes. Partisan and resistance fighter deaths forces are included with military losses. The deaths of prisoners of war in captivity and personnel missing in action are also included with military deaths. The armed forces of the various nations are treated as single entities, for example the deaths of Austrians, Soviets, French and ethnic Germans in the Wehrmacht are included with German military losses.
  • Holocaust victims
    The Holocaust is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, 5.7 million (78%) of the 7.3 million Jews in German dominated Europe died in the war. Estimates for Holocaust deaths range between 5.1 to 6.0 million Jews. Some scholars maintain that the definition of the Holocaust should also include the Nazis' systematic murder of millions of people in other groups persecuted and killed by the Nazis included 130,000 to 500,000 Gypsies; 150,000 to 200,000 handicapped persons [26] ; 2.6 to 3 million Soviet prisoners of war; 1.8 to 1.9 million Poles; 4.5 to 8.2 million Soviet civilians; about 10,000 Gay men; about 1,000 Jehovah's Witnesses; between 1,000 to 2,000 Roman Catholic clergy and an unknown number of Freemasons. "The fate of black people from 1933 to 1945 in Nazi Germany and in German-occupied territories ranged from isolation to persecution, sterilization, medical experimentation, incarceration, brutality, and murder." During the Nazi era Communists, Socialists, Social Democrats, and trade union leaders were victims of Nazi persecution.
    Prisoner of war deaths in Nazi captivity totaled 3.1 Million
  • Japanese War Crimes
    R. J. Rummel estimates the civilian victims of Japanese war crimes at 5,424,000. Detailed by country: China 3,695,000; Indochina 457,000; Korea 378,000; Indonesia 375,000; Malaya-Singapore 283,000; Philippines 119,000, Burma 60,000 and Pacific Islands 57,000.
    Werner Gruhl estimates the civilian victims of Japanese war crimes at 20,365,000. Detailed by country: China 12,392,000; Indochina 1,500,000; Korea 500,000; Dutch East Indies 3,000,000; Malaya and Singapore 100,000 ; Philippines 500,000; Burma 170,000; Forced laborers in Southeast Asia 70,000, 30,000 interned non-Asian civilians; Timor 60,000; Thailand and Pacific Islands 60,000.Werner Gruhl estimates POW deaths in Japanese captivity at 331,584. Detailed by country: China 270,000; Netherlands 8,500; U.K. 12,433; Canada 273; Philippines 20,000; Australia 7,412; New Zealand 31; and the United States 12,935
    Out of “60,000" Indian Army POWs taken at the Fall of Singapore, 11,000 died in captivity
    There were 14,657 deaths among the total 130,895 western civilians interned by the Japanese due to famine and disease.
  • Victims of Soviet Repression
    The deaths of 400,000 civilians deported during the Soviet annexations in 1939–40 are included with World War II casualties.
    Russian sources list Axis Prisoner of war deaths of 580,589 in Soviet captivity However some western scholars estimate the total at between 1.7 and 2.3 million.
  • The Commonwealth War Graves Commission Annual Report 2008–09 is the source of the military dead for the British Empire The war dead totals listed in the report are based on the research by the CWGC to identify and commemorate Commonwealth war dead. The statistics tabulated The Commonwealth War Graves Commission are representative of the number of names commemorated for all servicemen/women of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth and former U.K. Dependencies, whose death was attributable to their war service. Some auxiliary and civilian organizations are also accorded war grave status if death occurred under certain specified conditions. For the purposes of C.W.G.C. the dates of inclusion for Commonwealth War Dead are 03/09/1939 to 31/12/1947.
  • Sources - The footnotes list the details of the losses and their sources.

World War II Casualties: Losses by alliance












































World War II Casualties by branch of service
Casualties of World War II by Branch of Service
Country Branch of service Number served Killed/missing Wounded Prisoners of war Captured
Germany Army 13,600,000 4,202,000


Air Force(including infantry units) 2,500,000 433,000


Navy 1,200,000 138,000


Waffen SS 900,000 314,000


Volkssturm and other Paramilitary Forces
231,000


Soviet citizens in German military service
215,000


Unidentified by branch of service (see note below)

6,035,000 11,100,000

Total Germany 18,200,000 5,533,000 6,035,000 11,100,000

|



Japan Army1937-1945 6,300,000 1,326,076 85,600 30,000

Navy1941-1945 2,100,000 414,879 8,900 10,000

POW dead after Surrender.
381,000


Total Japan
2,121,955


|



Soviet Union 1939–40 All branches of service
136,945 205,924
Soviet Union 1941–45 All branches of service 34,476,700 8,668,400 14,685,593 4,050,000

Conscripted Reservists not yet in active service (see note below)
500,000


Civilians in POW Camps(see note below)
1,000,000
1,750,000

Paramilitary and Soviet partisan units
400,000


Total USSR
10,725,345 14,915,517 5,750,000

|



British Commonwealth All branches of service 11,115,000 580,351 475,000 318,000

|



United States Army 11,260,000 318,274 565,861

Air Force (included with Army) (3,400,000) (88,119) (17,360)

Navy 4,183,446 62,614 37,778

Marine Corps 669,100 24,511 68,207

United States Coast Guard[69] 241,093 1,917


United States Merchant Marine[70] 243,000 9,521 12,000

Unidentified by branch of service


c.130,0000

Total US 16,596,639 416,837 683,846 C.130,000

Notes

Germany

  1. The number killed in action was 2,303,320; died of wounds, disease or accidents 500,165; 11,000 sentenced to death by court martial; 2,007,571 missing in action or unaccounted for after the war; 25,000 suicides; 12,000 unknown; 459,475 confirmed POW deaths, of whom 77,000 were in the custody of the U.S., UK and France; and 363,000 in Soviet custody. POW deaths includes 266,000 in the post war period after June 1945, primarily in Soviet captivity;.
  2. Dr. Rüdiger Overmans believes that "It seems entirely plausible, while not provable,that one half of the missing were killed in action, the other half however in fact died in Soviet custody";
  3. Soviet sources list the deaths of 474,967 of the 2,652,672 German Armed Forces POW taken in the War.

USSR

  1. Estimated total Soviet military war dead from 1941–45 on the Eastern Front (World War II) including missing in action, POWs and Soviet partisans range from 8.6 to 10.6 million. There were an additional 127,000 war dead in 1939–40 during the Winter War with Finland
  2. The official figures for military war dead and missing from 1941–45 are 8,668,400 comprising 6,329,600 combat related deaths, 555,500 non combat deaths, 500,000 missing in action and 1,103,300 POW dead and another 180,000 liberated POWs who most likely emigrated to other countries. Figures include Navy losses of 154,771.[82] Non combat deaths include 157,000 sentenced to death by court martial.
  3. Casualties in 1939–40 include the following dead and missing, Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 (8,931); Invasion of Poland of 1939 (1,139); Winter War with Finland (1939–40) (126,875).[84]
  4. The number of wounded includes 2,576,000 permanently disabled
  5. The official Russian figure for total POW held by the Germans is 4,059,000; the number of Soviet POW who survived the war was 2,016,000, including 180,000 who most likely emigrated to other countries, and an additional 939,700 POW and MIA who were redrafted as territory was liberated. This leaves 1,103,000 POW dead. However, western historians put the number of POW held by the Germans at 5.7 million and about 3 million as dead in captivity (in the official Russian figures 1.1 million are military POW and remaining balance of about 2 million are included with civilian war dead).
  6. Conscripted reservists is an estimate of men called up, primarily in 1941, who were killed in battle or died as POWs before being listed on active strength. Soviet and Russian sources classify these losses as civilian deaths.

British Commonwealth

  1. Number served: UK & Crown Colonies (5,896,000); India (2,582,000), Australia (993,000); Canada (1,100,000); New Zealand (295,000); South Africa (250,000).
  2. Total war related deaths reported by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission: UK & Crown Colonies (383,667); Undivided India (87,031), Australia (40,458); Canada (45,364); New Zealand (11,928); South Africa (11,903);
  3. Wounded: UK & Crown Colonies (284,049); India (64,354), Australia (39,803); Canada (53,174); New Zealand (19,314); South Africa (14,363)
  4. Prisoner of war: UK & Crown Colonies (180,488); India (79,481); Australia (26,358); South Africa (14,750); Canada (9,334); New Zealand (8,415))
  5. The 'Debt of Honour Register' from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists the 1.7m men and women of the Commonwealth forces who died during the two world wars.

U.S.

  1. Battle deaths were 292,131, Army 234,874, Navy 36,950, Marine Corps 19,733, Coast Guard 574, and United States Army Air Forces (included in Army) 52,173. (185,924 deaths occurred in the European/Atlantic theater of operations and 106,207 deaths occurred in Asia/Pacific theater of operations.)
  2. The United States Merchant Marine war dead of 9,521 are included with military losses. U.S. Merchant Mariners in “ocean-going service” during World War II have Veteran Status.
  3. During World War II, 1.2 million African Americans served in the Armed Forces and 708 were killed in combat. 350,000 American women served in the military during World War II and 16 were killed in action