List of epidemics and pandemics

This article is a list of major pandemics and epidemics caused by infectious diseases in human history. Events in boldface are ongoing.

More information Rank, Epidemics/pandemics ...

Rank	Epidemics/pandemics	Date	First outbreak	Location	Death toll
1	Black Death	1346–1353	Xi'an, China	Europe, Asia and North Africa	75–200 million
2	Spanish flu	1918–1920	Manhattan, Kansas, USA	Worldwide	17–100 million
3	Plague of Justinian	541–542	Pelusium, Egypt	Europe and West Asia	15–100 million
4	HIV/AIDS pandemic	1981–present	East Africa	Worldwide	44 million+ (2025)
5	Third plague pandemic	1855–1960	Yunnan, China	Worldwide	12–15 million
6	Cocoliztli Epidemic of 1545–1548	1545–1548	Mexico	North America	5–15 million
7	Antonine Plague	165–180	Seleucia, Iraq	Roman Empire	5–10 million
8	1520 Mexico smallpox epidemic	1519–1520	Mexico	North America	5–8 million
9	COVID-19 pandemic	2019–present	Wuhan, China	Worldwide	7.1-42 million (as of 2025)
10	Asian flu	1957–1958	Guizhou, China	Worldwide	1–4 million
10	Hong Kong flu	1968–1969	Hong Kong	Worldwide	1–4 million
11	1918–1922 Russia typhus epidemic	1918–1922	Russia	Siberia	2–3 million
14	735–737 Japanese smallpox epidemic	735–737	Dazaifu, Fukuoka	Japan	2 million
14	1772–1773 Persian Plague	1772–1773	Baghdad, Iraq	Persia	2 million
16	Naples Plague	1656–1658	Naples, Italy	Europe	1.25 million
17	Third cholera pandemic	1846–1860	Mecca, Saudi Arabia	Worldwide	1 million+
18	1629–1631 Italian plague	1629–1631	Milan, Italy	Europe	1 million
18	1889–1890 flu pandemic	1889–1890	Bukhara, Russia	Worldwide	1 million

Worldwide Pandemics