how many people were effected by the black death?

Answer 1

I have heard that 1/3rd of all human life in europe died due to the plague, and the plague hit asia and the middle east pretty bad too.

If you look at a graph of the worlds population through history, you can see a small gash where the plague hit.

Answer 2

Historians continue to argue about the mortality of the Black Death (1347-51).

The lowest estimates are now around roughly 25-33%. Although estimates dipped in the 1960s, better research has been increasing the figure ever since.

The current estimate for often accepted is 40-50% of the population of Europe.

The most recent research (2001) by Ole Benedictow argues that previous figures were grave underestimations. He places the figure around 60%.

The pre-plague population figures are also strongly disputed. We just don't have the records that modern societies keep routinely, so have to rely on estimates and "best guesses." The current "best guess" is (very roughly) 80 million for a population of Europe.

This means that in the space of 4 years between 20 and 50 million people died, with a most accepted figure of around 36 million (45% mortality)

Answer 3

he Black Death: Bubonic Plague


In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly. Plague causes fever and a painful swelling of the lymph glands called buboes, which is how it gets its name. The disease also causes spots on the skin that are red at first and then turn black.

Since China was one of the busiest of the world's trading nations, it was only a matter of time before the outbreak of plague in China spread to western Asia and Europe. In October of 1347, several Italian merchant ships returned from a trip to the Black Sea, one of the key links in trade with China. When the ships docked in Sicily, many of those on board were already dying of plague. Within days the disease spread to the city and the surrounding countryside. An eyewitness tells what happened:

bubonic plague"Realizing what a deadly disaster had come to them, the people quickly drove the Italians from their city. But the disease remained, and soon death was everywhere. Fathers abandoned their sick sons. Lawyers refused to come and make out wills for the dying. Friars and nuns were left to care for the sick, and monasteries and convents were soon deserted, as they were stricken, too. Bodies were left in empty houses, and there was no one to give them a Christian burial."

The disease struck and killed people with terrible speed. The Italian writer Boccaccio said its victims often

"ate lunch with their friends and dinner with their ancestors in paradise."

By the following August, the plague had spread as far north as England, where people called it "The Black Death" because of the black spots it produced on the skin. A terrible killer was loose across Europe, and Medieval medicine had nothing to combat it.

In winter the disease seemed to disappear, but only because fleas--which were now helping to carry it from person to person--are dormant then. Each spring, the plague attacked again, killing new victims. After five years 25 million people were dead--one-third of Europe's people.

Even when the worst was over, smaller outbreaks continued, not just for years, but for centuries. The survivors lived in constant fear of the plague's return, and the disease did not disappear until the 1600s.

Medieval society never recovered from the results of the plague. So many people had died that there were serious labor shortages all over Europe. This led workers to demand higher wages, but landlords refused those demands. By the end of the 1300s peasant revolts broke out in England, France, Belgium and Italy.

The disease took its toll on the church as well. People throughout Christendom had prayed devoutly for deliverance from the plague. Why hadn't those prayers been answered? A new period of political turmoil and philosophical questioning lay ahead.

Black Death - Disaster Strikes
25 million people died in just under five years between 1347 and 1352. Estimated population of Europe from 1000 to 1352.

* 1000 38 million
* 1100 48 million
* 1200 59 million
* 1300 70 million
* 1347 75 million
* 1352 50 million

For more information about the plague on this site, see:

* Black Death Spreads
* Bubonic Plague: Will it Ever End?
* I Saw the Black Death
* The Medieval Miracles of Healing -- Medical Science
* The Plague: an account from Boccaccio's The Decameron

Additional site on the plague:

* Maps by EyeWitness to History - historical information and maps provided by EyeWitness to History
* Plague and Public Health in Renaissance Europe
* Fleas - site about the insects responsible for the Black Death



Related Links:

The Middle Ages

People of the Middle Ages

The Crusades

Cathedrals

Re

Answer 4

A lot. Actually that is the reason why we say "bless you" when you sneeze. Back in the day, when people did this it was often thought that they had the black death and wouldn't be with them much longer.

Answer 5

1/3rd of the popultion died.... about 75 million people worldwide and about 20 to 30 million in Europe.

Answer 6

As the person before said, hundreds of thousands. There's no real way to quantify the number especially as people brought it across continents in blankets.

Answer 7

lots and lots and lots of ppl in europe... like hundreds of thousands...