Deaths per Day Worldwide
Facebook users shared a very out-of-date graph.
As a Statistical Ambassador, we help journalists with checking statistics.
This article extends a comment I gave to Reuters Fact Check.
The claim of “56 deaths per day”
A Reuters journalist asked for an explanation on why this graph can mislead:
First, we note the caption:
Sources: CDC, WHO, The Lancet. Correct as of March 9, 2020.
By 9th March, COVID-19 was an emerging disease with under 4,000 reported deaths. According to the ECDC, reported COVID-19 deaths increased to over 400,000 by mid-June.
On 26th June 2020, the total reported death toll works at around 2,700 deaths per day.
The graph compares COVID-19 to established diseases. Some of these diseases are seasonal: we should look at complete years.
Questionable sourcing
The other figures are questionable too. There is not an active count for many other diseases. The figures in the graph are precise, such as 3,014…
