I don't want to be that guy because it is a big number. However, in terms of the human population, there are 8 billion of us and when it comes to the difference between a million and a billion. It is about a billion. So about 0.04% of the human population. Terrible tragedy, yes however it is true.

[–] samus12345@lemmy.world 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

But they didn't say a small percentage, which would be accurate, but a small number, which is not.

[–] Bread@sh.itjust.works 13 points 5 months ago

That is fair, I thought I read percentage. My mistake.

[–] Kethal@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Calculating impact by dividing the number of deaths caused by a thing that has existed for 4 years over a population size that includes people more than 100 years old won't arrive at any sort of meaningful number. That's why you use rates, or per capita, or some other way of adjusting for population size and time. COVID 19 is the third most common cause of death in the US in 2020 and 2021. Calling one of the most common causes of death a small number of people is grossly inaccurate.