Health Policy Watch news story<\/p>\n
COVID-19 dropped out of the world\u2019s 10 leading causes of death in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic began in 2020, and only two years after it topped the list, according to new World Health Organization estimates<\/a> released Friday (2 October).<\/p>\n The virus directly killed an estimated 0.9 million people in 2023, ranking 14th, as global life expectancy climbed back to near its pre-pandemic level. WHO declared an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency in May that year.<\/p>\n Revised figures now rank COVID-19 as the world\u2019s leading cause of death in 2021, with 9.4 million direct deaths. WHO\u2019s earlier<\/a> estimates had placed it second that year. Together with 5.3 million deaths in 2020, the new figures put the virus\u2019s direct toll in the first two years of the pandemic at 14.7 million.<\/p>\n Read the full news story here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n