Smallpox death rate in select European countries during the Great Pandemic 1870-1875

The Great Smallpox Pandemic of 1870 to 1875 was the last major smallpox epidemic to reach pandemic level across Europe. The outbreak has its origins in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871, where unvaccinated French prisoners of war infected the German civilian population, before the virus then spread to all corners of Europe. The death rates peaked in different years for individual countries; with the highest numbers recorded in 1871 for the German states, Belgium and the Netherlands, while death rates peaked in Austria, Scotland and Sweden in later years (the states that peaked in 1871 were closer in proximity to the frontlines of the Franco-Prussian War).

Impact of compulsory vaccination

The average number of deaths per million people was much higher in countries without compulsory vaccination, ranging from 953 to 1,360 in the samples given here. In comparison to this, the countries with compulsory vaccination barely reached these numbers in the years when the epidemic was at its worst, and their annual averages ranged between 314 and 361 deaths per million people during the six years shown here.

Impact of the Great Pandemic

Following the surge in smallpox deaths caused by the pandemic, many of the countries listed here introduced mandatory vaccination, or introduced penalties for parents who did not vaccinate their children. Germany and the Netherlands** did this in 1874, while Britain and Sweden enforced their vaccination laws with stricter penalties in 1871 and 1880 respectively. Perhaps surprisingly, Austria and Belgium, the two countries with the highest average death rate shown here, never introduced mandatory smallpox vaccination.