Human consequences
The deadliest famine on record: entire regions suffer extreme death rates.
Home › All disasters › Great Chinese Famine
FamineGreat Chinese Famine
30MDeaths
Not quantifiedDisplaced / homeless
Not quantifiedEstimated cost
- Estimates of 15 to 55 million deaths; 30 million is a commonly cited figure.
Mao Zedong’s Great Leap Forward imposes forced collectivisation in people’s communes, unrealistic production targets and grain requisitions based on overstated harvests.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
The campaign against the “Four Pests” decimates sparrows and lets crop-eating insects thrive; forests are cut down to fuel backyard furnaces.
Economic consequences
Farm output collapses; most of the steel from the makeshift furnaces is unusable.
Political consequences
Mao steps back in favour of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping; the subject long remains taboo in China.
Further reading
Similar disasters
- Bengal famineFamine · British India (today’s India and Bangladesh)1943 – 1944
- Ethiopian famineFamine · Ethiopia1983 – 1985
- Great Irish FamineFamine · Ireland (United Kingdom)1845 – 1852
- Yangtze and Huai River floodsFlood · China1931
In the rankings : The deadliest disasters in history No. 2
Explore it on the 3D globe. See this disaster among 88 of the major disasters in history, from Pompeii to the present day, with its spread, its timeline and comparable events.
See it on the globe