Human consequences
Life expectancy in the United States drops by about 12 years in 1918.
Home › All disasters › “Spanish” flu
Pandemic“Spanish” flu
50MDeaths
Not quantifiedDisplaced / homeless
Not quantifiedEstimated cost
- Estimates of 17 to 100 million deaths; about a third of humanity was infected.
An H1N1 virus spreads in three waves, carried by troop movements during the First World War. Unusually, it kills young adults. Its nickname comes from neutral Spain, whose uncensored press reported on it freely.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
The pandemic shows how fast modern transport can spread disease.
Economic consequences
Labour shortages, business closures and temporary collapse of services.
Political consequences
Cities that close schools and public places early, such as St. Louis, limit deaths. Public health takes shape: the British Ministry of Health (1919) and the League of Nations Health Organisation.
Spread
- Brest · arrival port of US troops
- Boston · August 1918
- Freetown · August 1918
- Bombay · 1918
- Western Samoa · November 1918
Further reading
Similar disasters
- Asian fluPandemic · Worldwide1957 – 1958
- COVID-19 pandemicPandemic · Worldwide2019 – 2023
- The Black DeathPandemic · Europe, Asia, North Africa1347 – 1351
- Plague of JustinianPandemic · Byzantine Empire541 – 549
In the rankings : The deadliest disasters in history No. 1The deadliest pandemics in history No. 1
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