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Countries with the Highest Death Rate

In which country did the highest percentage of the population die in the year 2023?
Source: UN World Population Prospects. 2024 Edition.
Numbers are based on projections, not exact census counts (which don't exist)
Quiz by Quizzology
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Last updated: March 2, 2025
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First submittedApril 19, 2014
Times taken42,236
Average score47.6%
Rating4.56
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%
Country
2.56
Vatican City
2.10
Monaco
1.52
Bulgaria
1.47
Latvia
1.43
Lithuania
1.41
Croatia
1.39
Serbia
%
Country
1.36
Moldova
1.35
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
1.34
Romania
1.33
Belarus
1.32
Hungary
1.31
Ukraine
1.28
Dominica
%
Country
1.24
Greece
1.23
Russia
1.23
Japan
1.22
Germany
1.22
Estonia
1.18
Georgia
1.17
Nigeria
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76 Comments
Quizmaster
+21
Level ∞
Mar 2, 2025
This quiz has changed a lot since 2018 when it was maybe 50% composed of poor African countries.
Seba
+1
Level 70
May 23, 2014
I missed Germany, Croatia and Greece
jat250
+8
Level 33
Jun 19, 2014
Depressing
tshalla
+23
Level 77
Jan 8, 2020
Demographics
Smokebasics
+3
Level 74
Mar 3, 2025
nope its not
RLJ
+4
Level 74
Nov 14, 2017
I feel sorry for Africans... Was surprised to not see Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro here.
coro
+16
Level 58
Oct 25, 2019
I was surprised to see they are mostly European countries.
catperson145
+3
Level 70
Jan 8, 2020
that's because of obsolescence
fitheach
+41
Level 58
Jan 31, 2020
Because European countries have a higher percentage of their populations that are of elderly age, so if makes sense that they will appear on this quiz.
BrunoLP
+5
Level 75
Jun 17, 2021
They're old. Old people die.
Astana
+7
Level 52
Jan 13, 2024
It's because Europe has lots of old people, but the reason that Europe has lots of old people is that the population lives to a late age. So having a high death rate is not necessarily a bad thing or a reflection of low life expectancy.
brandybuck96
+3
Level 83
May 17, 2024
Although Europe also has a top-heavy population without enough young people to support the vastly increasing proportion of elderly people.
DocEckleburg
+3
Level 63
Mar 5, 2025
Was going to say similar, having a high death rate does not necessarily mean a low life expectancy, but if people are not dying young, then it does indicate an ageing population with a low replenishment rate.
hikikomori
+5
Level 57
Jan 9, 2020
why just africans lmao
fbo1103
+11
Level 62
Feb 2, 2023
because looking at an average the european and asian countries on this list have a much higher median age so the african countries are obviously on this for reasons other than high percentage of old population
Quizmaster
+53
Level ∞
Oct 24, 2019
How much have things improved in Africa? A lot. If this quiz used data for the year 2000, all the countries on the list except one would be from Africa. Since then, the death rate in Sub-Saharan African has declined by 42%, due to higher life expectancy, lower infant mortality, and better treatments for HIV.
Geordy
+2
Level 69
Mar 20, 2025
Maybe interesting to see a quiz about the changes in death rate per country in the past decades!
cpgatbyu
+25
Level 87
Oct 24, 2019
Don't shed a tear for countries like Japan and Germany, which consistently rank near the top in quality of living. They are on this list simply because their fertility rates have dropped.
TheQuizzler
+20
Level 64
Jan 8, 2020
We shouldn't shed a tear because these countries aren't even having enough children to continue their people's own existence?

Wow, how compassionate of you.

Doomstroyer
+39
Level 51
Jan 8, 2020
Good job missing the point. He is saying their death rates are not from premature causes such as violence and disease. Also low fertility doesn't mean they will cease to exist, what?
Quizmaster
+4
Level ∞
Mar 20, 2025
Some of the countries on this list will essentially die out. Most at risk are the Balkan and Baltic Republics.

It's happened before. For example, here's one culture that died out in 2013, when the last native speaker of their language died:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livonians

Cultural erasure is not a good thing and we should make an effort to preserve diversity.

howard38
+10
Level 61
Jan 8, 2020
No danger of German or Japanese people disappearing. Are you even serious?
Neodymium
+2
Level 62
May 30, 2024
Why are you crying that they aren't having children? You're acting like someone's stopping them at gunpoint. The tfr has dropped due to a bunch of reasons. And btw Germany in 2100 will still have 68 million people, so ye, they will continue existing, sorry Morgenthau
rabble
+1
Level 68
Jul 28, 2024
Their governments have failed to do their 1 job: promote the thriving of their domestic populace
brandybuck96
+5
Level 83
Mar 3, 2025
"thrive" and "reproduce" aren't the same thing, indeed in some cases they're the opposite
Confabulously
+19
Level 79
Oct 24, 2019
It's interesting how the countries featured here are exactly both extremes of the spectrum of demographic "development." Either the death rate and birth rate are extremely high, or the death rate and birth rate are extremely low. Either way, all of these countries have death rates that are ~near-ish~ to their birth rates. I say ish, because every African country has at least begun to enter the second phase of demographic development, and death rates are currently plummeting in every sub-Saharan African country. (This is environmental science stuff - "race scientists" stay away)
Sly67
+5
Level 75
Oct 25, 2019
I don't get this quizz. Every single country which seems obvious for me (Yemen, Syria, Mali, Niger...) doesn't work
roleybob
+6
Level 74
Oct 25, 2019
A lot of the countries that appear / don't appear are because of their birth rates over the last couple of decades.

If a country had 100m population 20 years ago then there will be say, 15m people now in their last decade with ~1.5m dying per year = 1.5% of the original population. But if the birth rate has been high for those 20 years then the population might now be 200m so those 1.5m that die this year only constitutes 0.75% of the current population.

And conversely, if the birth rate had been very low for those 20 years then the current population may have dropped so those 15m people to die this year would represent more than 1.5% of the current population

catperson145
+2
Level 70
Jan 8, 2020
that's because of obsolescence in richer countries, where not a lot of babies are born but a lot of older people die
percyjackson18
+1
Level 38
Jan 25, 2022
Niger has a population growth rate of 3.8%
Nicco55
+2
Level 68
Oct 25, 2019
Why all these eastern European and Balkan countries?
roleybob
+3
Level 74
Oct 25, 2019
See response to Sly67.

Plus, I'm not sure how they are counting the populations as many Easter Europeans, often the younger generations, have moved west in the last 30 years so populations in that part of the world have aged faster than elsewhere

Arp2600
+1
Level 88
Oct 30, 2019
Low birth rate is the main cause, I think.
redsplat
+3
Level 73
Nov 3, 2019
In certain cases it is because of migration -- younger child-bearing aged economically-mobile folks leave to find opportunities elsewhere, and the remaining population demographics are skewed towards elderly folks who are more likely to kick the bucket.
CaoMaru
+1
Level 50
Jan 8, 2020
Low birth rates, and lots of people have moved away. In Latvia and Lithuania there are also significant issues with alcohol abuse, meaning more people dying generally, and since lots of younger people have moved away, this skews the figures.
ArturTamilin
+1
Level 64
Jan 8, 2020
To old population. All European countries, Japan and Korea are there because of that. Hardly any of them have average age under 40(exept African one)
IsleAuHaulte
+2
Level 91
Oct 25, 2019
It's a simple dual pattern but tough to guess 100% at the same time.
mf3
+18
Level 89
Oct 25, 2019
This has to be the only quiz where Somalia ranks between Germany and Japan.
samiamco
+2
Level 68
Nov 2, 2019
I am thoroughly confused by this quiz, and because my brain gets a bit obsessive when it gets confused, i see I have a long night of somewhat useless knowledge to acquire.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 81
Jan 8, 2020
Declining birth rates, aging populations, poverty and high mortality rates.

If the country has all four of these, they're at the top of the list.

If they don't have the first two things, but they've got a lot of the last two things, they're mostly near the middle.

If they have lots of the first two things, but don't have the last two things, then they're mostly at or near the bottom of the list.

g4ndalf
+1
Level 75
Mar 3, 2025
This seems to have changed a lot. Since the first 2 have the first two things, but not the last 2.

And poor countries are dropping from the list, with now only 1 african country.

MayaB
+1
Level 73
Nov 28, 2019
This is the first quiz I see with my country in first place. Before taking the quiz I was relatively sure that it'll be there. Seeing it pop next to the number 1 is depressing and yet understandable when you take the economical, political and demographic situation under consideration. And ,writing these words while living in Germany, I must admit I'm also part of the problem.
Jacktheguy
+7
Level 91
Jan 8, 2020
I thought for sure the Vatican would be here...
JackBeNimble
+2
Level 82
Oct 15, 2021
I suspect that's because most of the elderly men who die there are counted in the statistics of the countries in which they were born or to which they were assigned through their ministries. I might be completely wrong, though - maybe very few die within the limits of the see itself.
Jacktheguy
+1
Level 91
Mar 20, 2025
It's on here now. Wonder what changed?
lvtharrison
+1
Level 82
Jan 8, 2020
Missed three but probably the hardest quiz I've done...three minutes down and I had 3
loz1
+3
Level 44
Jan 8, 2020
That was one of the hardest quizzes I've ever taken on here. Mainly because I spent around 80% of the time trying African countries, and not trying any European ones!
DavitEvoyan
+2
Level 44
Jan 8, 2020
If you are wondering why there are a lot of Eastern European countries in the list. The thing is that after the WWII those countries have seen baby-booms and a large portion of their population is born in the late 1940's and those people are now dying.
roleybob
+1
Level 74
Jan 8, 2020
Not really - that would just mean the population jumped in the 40s. Assuming average birth and death rates from that generation onwards, the percentage dying per year now should be just about average (if anything slightly lower as there won't be as many people dying from the previous generation which was comparatively smaller, though the numbers from that generation may be negligible by now).

It's more to do with birth rates of more recent generations, migration, etc

Raz07
+1
Level 56
Jan 8, 2020
Didn't expect to see so many european countries
larrylevine
+1
Level 68
May 20, 2020
Proud'a you world...stabbin each other ta deaf...*tear*
TheBerryLegend
+1
Level 51
Dec 22, 2020
Glad the country where i'm from is not here
RSGenius25
+1
Level 37
Mar 24, 2021
Was surprised that Bulgaria was TOP!
TamuAudwodia
+1
Level 66
Oct 6, 2021
For many of these countries, like Bulgaria, many youth move out of the country, leaving behind the old generation. What usually happens to old people? Well, they die.

Also birth rate is extremely low, so not much population replenishment either, which means by each year that passes, the higher percent of these countries populations will die.

African countries like Chad and Sierra Leone is mostly due to lack of good healthcare. In Chad, almost all doctors are imported from France, cause Chad doesn't have the education system to educate doctors or other healthcare personnel.

Felixcroc
+2
Level 69
Nov 1, 2021
Poor Eastern Bloc..
slayedbypoland
+1
Level 35
Oct 27, 2022
bulgaria? really??
Zefyrinus
+2
Level 72
Dec 20, 2022
This was hard. Is it countries with ongoing war? Only a couple of them. Countries with a high murder rate? No. Countries with a very old population? Very few. Countries with a low birth rate? Only a few. Extremely poor countries? Only a few.
RJG
+3
Level 63
Feb 15, 2023
18/22 purely from guessing. I must have type about 100 countries during the quiz.
Watpo54
+2
Level 60
Oct 19, 2023
I was just guessing a lot of poor african countries, but then out of frustration I guessed Ukraine and then realized something, still only managed to guess 7.
Alexquiz17
+3
Level 92
Jan 22, 2024
This quiz teaches us more about the misuse / misapplication of statistics than it does about people dying in various countries. Life expectancy and median age quizzes (which are directly related to standard of living) will be far more intuitively straightforward, while this metric highlights shrinking populations above all else.
tschutzer
+1
Level 93
Mar 3, 2025
I seldom go to the trouble to complain about a quiz's very existence, but it really seems to me that a single-year snapshot of death rate (especially for nations with very low populations) is not really indicative of any larger trend. What makes quizzes about life expectancy or median age fun is figuring out the impact of prosperity, war, disease, birth rates, etc. on population over time. While there are a good number of countries on this list that correlate to that kind of analysis, there are also a great number of pretty random outliers that seem to have no rhyme or reason.
cathlete
+2
Level 76
Mar 2, 2025
Maybe I'm missing something, but I looked at the raw data here, and not a single death was listed in 2023 for any age group in the Holy See.

Where exactly did this data come from?

Quizmaster
+2
Level ∞
Mar 2, 2025
https://population.un.org/wpp/downloads?folder=Standard%20Projections&group=Most%20used

I suppose they probably adjusted the data to smooth it out. I don't know.

cathlete
+4
Level 76
Mar 2, 2025
Actually, I realize that raw data rounds to thousands. So unless over half of the Vatican's population died, it would round down to 0.

Thanks for the link!

loganite
+1
Level 91
Mar 3, 2025
I struggled mightily with this one. I tried micronations, poor African countries, and war torn nations and only came up with 7. Never thought to take a tour through eastern Europe...
mf3
+4
Level 89
Mar 3, 2025
Dominica is a bizarre outlier.
overtired
+1
Level 86
Mar 5, 2025
Needle in a haystack.
SpartanLlama
+1
Level 74
Mar 10, 2025
For a split second I was surprised to see Vatican and Monaco and then I was like "wait no that makes sense"
GeneralZaroff
+1
Level 30
Mar 13, 2025
I'm reading the comments and trying to understand the patterns here. It seems like the European countries on this list have aging populations that are dying out and, I'm guessing, don't have cultures that are very welcoming to immigrants, so they're not replacing they're populations very much. A lot of the countries on the list are small, so a few deaths count for a large percentage of the total population.
GelEGuy
+2
Level 63
Mar 20, 2025
Very surprised to see Nigeria on this list, given that it has such a young population. It has problems with violence and poverty, but shocking to see the results at these levels.
InterAlia
+1
Level 78
Mar 21, 2025
Yes, that's one I missed since it doesn't fit the pattern. (I did manage to find Dominica though.) I expected South Korea given how low their birth rate is.
Drinker
+1
Level 67
Mar 20, 2025
wow, took me a time to notice the pattern here.
TsPmoIcl
+1
Level 20
Mar 20, 2025
so pretty much Vatican City isn't really good at this whole "keeping people alive thing"
Neodymium
+1
Level 62
Mar 24, 2025
a good percentage of their citizens are immigrants so they'll be fine
Dizuix
+1
Level 51
Mar 20, 2025
wonder how high Palestine is
Lukeskywalkr
+2
Level 78
Mar 21, 2025
Their birthrates still far outweigh their death rates. Even with the purported "genocide" that has been claimed for the past 75 years or so.
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