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Death rate from large famines by decade

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Famines

About this data

Death rate from large famines by decade
Deaths in famines that are estimated to have killed 100,000 people or more, per 100,000 people.
Source
World Peace Foundation (2024) – processed by Our World in Data
Last updated
October 3, 2024
Next expected update
October 2025
Date range
1870–2020
Unit
deaths per 100,000 people

Sources and processing

This data is based on the following sources

The dataset is a catalogue of famines and instances of mass starvation around the world since 1870 that are estimated to have killed 100,000 people or more. The dataset includes date, location, estimate for excess deaths, and causes (proximate, underlying, and contributory, along with a classification of the role of political intent).

Retrieved on
October 3, 2024
Retrieved from
https://worldpeacefoundation.org/
Citation
This is the citation of the original data obtained from the source, prior to any processing or adaptation by Our World in Data. To cite data downloaded from this page, please use the suggested citation given in Reuse This Work below.
Historic Famines dataset. World Peace Foundation (2024).

How we process data at Our World in Data

All data and visualizations on Our World in Data rely on data sourced from one or several original data providers. Preparing this original data involves several processing steps. Depending on the data, this can include standardizing country names and world region definitions, converting units, calculating derived indicators such as per capita measures, as well as adding or adapting metadata such as the name or the description given to an indicator.

At the link below you can find a detailed description of the structure of our data pipeline, including links to all the code used to prepare data across Our World in Data.

Read about our data pipeline
Notes on our processing step for this indicator

The deaths were assumed to have been distributed evenly over the duration of the famine.

Reuse this work

  • All data produced by third-party providers and made available by Our World in Data are subject to the license terms from the original providers. Our work would not be possible without the data providers we rely on, so we ask you to always cite them appropriately (see below). This is crucial to allow data providers to continue doing their work, enhancing, maintaining and updating valuable data.
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Citations

How to cite this page

To cite this page overall, including any descriptions, FAQs or explanations of the data authored by Our World in Data, please use the following citation:

“Data Page: Death rate from large famines by decade”, part of the following publication: Joe Hasell and Max Roser (2017) - “Famines”. Data adapted from World Peace Foundation. Retrieved from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-from-large-famines-by-decade [online resource]
How to cite this data

In-line citationIf you have limited space (e.g. in data visualizations), you can use this abbreviated in-line citation:

World Peace Foundation (2024) – processed by Our World in Data

Full citation

World Peace Foundation (2024) – processed by Our World in Data. “Death rate from large famines by decade” [dataset]. World Peace Foundation, “The WPF Famine Dataset” [original data]. Retrieved January 19, 2025 from https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/death-rate-from-large-famines-by-decade