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Sydney, NSW 1945. Members of 8th Division AIF on the gangway of the Hospital ship

World War Two Casualties

Sydney, NSW 1945. Members of 8th Division AIF on the gangway of the Hospital ship
Sydney, NSW 1945. Members of the 8th Division AIF on the gangway of the Hospital Ship Oranje which brought them from Singapore where they had been prisoners-of-war since 1942.

By Neera Sahni.

Nearly every country and territory in the world participated in World War Two. Most were neutral at the beginning, but only a few nations remained neutral to the end. The Second World War pitted two alliances against each other, the Axis powers and the Allied powers; the U.S having served 16 million men, Germany serving 13 million, the Soviet Union serving 35 million and Japan serving 6 million. With millions serving in other countries, an estimated 300 million soldiers saw combat. A total of 72 million people died with the lowest estimate being 40 million dead and the highest estimate being 120 million dead

The statistics on World War Two casualties are inexact. Only for the United States and the British Commonwealth can official figures showing killed, wounded, prisoners or missing for the armed forces be cited with any degree of assurance. For most other nations, only estimates of varying reliability exist. Statistical accounting broke down in both Allied and Axis nations when whole armies were surrendered or dispersed. Guerrilla warfare, changes in international boundaries, and mass shifts in population vastly complicated postwar efforts to arrive at accurate figures even for the total dead from all causes.

Allied Powers

Country

Killed, died of wounds

Military wounded

Prisoners or missing

Civilian deaths due to war

Estimated total deaths

Belgium

12,000

—

—

76,000

88,000

Brazil

943

4,222

—

1,000

1,943

British Commonwealth

373,372

475,047

251,724

92,673

466,000

Australia

23,365

39,803

32,393

1,000

24,365

Canada

37,476

53,174

10,888

1,600

39,076

India

24,338

64,354

91,243

2,000

26,388

New Zealand

10,033

19,314

10,582

—

10,033

South Africa

6,840

14,363

16,430

—

6,840

United Kingdom

264,443

277,077

213,919

92,673

357,000

Colonies

6,877

6,972

22,323

—

7,000

China

1,310,224

1,752,951

115,248

—

—

Czechoslovakia

10,000

—

—

215,000

225,000

Denmark

1,800

—

—

2,0007

4,000

France

213,324

400,000

—

350,000

563,000

Greece

88,300

—

—

325,000

413,000

Netherlands

7,900

2,860

—

200,000

208,000

Norway

3,000

—

—

7,000

10,000

Poland

123,178

236,606

420,760

5,675,000

5,800,000

Philippines

27,000

—

—

91,000

118,000

United States

292,131

671,801

139,709

6,000

298,000

U.S.S.R.

11,000,000

—

—

7,000,000

18,000,000

Yugoslavia

305,000

425,000

—

1,200,000

1,505,000

 

Axis Powers

Country

Killed, died of wounds

Military wounded

Prisoners or missing

Civilian deaths due to war

Estimated total deaths

Bulgaria

10,000

—

—

10,000

20,000

Finland

82,000

50,000

—

2,000

84,000

Germany

3,500,000

5,000,000

3,400,000

780,000

4,200,000

Hungary

200,000

—

170,000

290,000

490,000

Italy

242,232

66,000

350,000

152,941

395,000

Japan

1,300,000

4,000,000

810,000

672,000

1,972,000

Romania

300,000

—

100,000

200,000

500,000

             

 

Worldwide Casualties*

  • Battle Deaths 15,000,000
  • Battle Wounded 25,000,000
  • Civilian Deaths 45,000,000

 *Worldwide casualty estimates vary widely in several sources. The number of civilian deaths in China alone might well be more than 50,000,000.

References:

  • https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/second-world-war
  • https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II/
  • https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II/Costs-of-the-war
  • https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/world-war-ii-history
  • https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war
 

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