On May 5, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported estimates that show the full death toll associated directly or indirectly with the COVID-19 pandemic (described as ﾓexcess mortalityﾔ) between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2021 was approximately 14.9 million (range 13.3 million to 16.6 million).

Excess mortality is calculated as the difference between the number of deaths that have occurred and the number that would be expected in the absence of the pandemic based on data from earlier years.