Casualties of World War II
Detailed Break-Down of World War 2 Casualties Listed by Country
Estimates of the death toll attributable to the war for military and civilian losses have ranged upward to 60 million, with civilian losses at or more than 50 percent of the total. The war had a global reach: over 50 countries or dependencies had some degree of involvement.
The genocidal death toll was attributed to several factors, including brutal mistreatment of POWs and captured partisans by both sides, multiple atrocities by the Germans and the Soviets against the civilian population and each other, the wholesale use of weaponry on the battlefield against huge masses of infantry. The multiple battles, and most of all, the use of scorched earth tactics destroyed agricultural land, infrastructure, and whole towns, leaving much of the population homeless and without food.
In the near two-and-a-half year siege of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) by the German forces, 1.5 million Russians alone died from shelling, bombing, disease and starvation, a figure that exceeded all the military casualties of the U.S.A.and British Commonwealth combined.
The war also produced mass dislocation and movement of refugees. In the immediate post-war period, millions of ethnic Germans were expelled from the liberated countries of eastern Europe, many of whom died in displaced-persons camps. For China alone, an estimate of 60 million homeless has been estimated. Similarly, millions of German and Japanese POWs required repatriation. It took ten years before the last German prisoners were released while unknown numbers of surviving Japanese soldiers left on the Asian mainland disappeared without trace.
The material destruction of those areas that became battlegrounds or were the targets of Allied bombers was colossal. The destruction of cities - Warsaw, Hamburg, Dresden, and, especially, Russian and Japan urban centers, left millions homeless. The damage to roads, bridges, railways and industrial plants created mass economic dislocation while the financial costs of the war weighed on victors and vanquished alike.
Please note that the figures in this table are unofficial estimates obtained from various sources.
| Country | Total Dead | KIA/MIA | POWs | POWs died in captivity | Civilian Casualties |
| U.S.S.R. | 31.6 million | 9 million | 5.2 million | 3.6 million | 19 million |
| Germany | 8.2 million | 4 million | 3.3 million | 374,000 | 3.8 million |
| Great Britain | 450,000 | 357,116 | unknown | unknown | 92,700 |
| USA | 300,000 | 300,000 | unknown | unknown |
n/a
|
| Australia | 26,976 | 26,976 | unknown | unknown |
n/a
|
| Belgium | 112,000 | 12,000 | unknown | unknown | 100,000 |
| Bulgaria | 20,000 | 10,000 | unknown | unknown | 10,000 |
| Canada | 42,000 | 42,000 | unknown | unknown |
n/a
|
| China | 10.3 million | 1.3 million | unknown | unknown | 9 million |
| Denmark | 3,000 | 2,000 | unknown | unknown | 1,000 |
| Finland | 104,000 | 100,000 | unknown | unknown | 4,000 |
| France | 600,000 | 250,000 | unknown | unknown | 350,000 |
| Greece | 415,000 | 90,000 | unknown | unknown | 325,000 |
| Holland | 264,000 | 14,000 | unknown | unknown | 250,000 |
| Hungary | 590,000 | 100,000 | 500,000 | 200,000 | 290,000 |
| India | 61,000 | 36,000 | unknown | unknown | 25,000 |
| Italy | 235,000 | 32,000 | 70,000 | 50,000 | 153,000 |
| Japan | 2.4 million | 1.7 million | unknown | unknown | 672,000 |
| New Zealand | 10,000 | 10,000 | unknown | unknown |
n/a
|
| Norway | 17,000 | 10,000 | unknown | unknown | 7,000 |
| Poland | 6.4 million | 664,000 | unknown | unknown | 5.7 million |
| Romania | 750,000 | 350,000 | 500,000 | 200,000 | 200,000 |
| South Africa | 9,000 | 9,000 | unknown | unknown |
n/a
|
| Yugoslavia | 1.5 million | 320,000 | unknown | unknown | 1.2 million |
War Cemetery
