The Plague of Justinian killed the highest proportion of people
The Plague of Justinian is thought to have killed around half of the population of the entire planet.
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The Argument
The Plague of Justinian originally hit in the year 541AD, thought to have spread from rats. It probably began in Egypt before being carried across the sea to Mediterranean countries before devastating the city of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.[1] People across Europe, Arabia, North Africa and Asia were infected and killed.[2]
While the amount of people killed by the Plague of Justinian is debated by historians, it is estimated that between the original outbreak in 541 and the reoccurrences in the following two centuries, 30 to 100 million people died. This could represent roughly half of the world's population at the time, making it the deadliest pandemic of all time in terms of global mortality rate.[3]
Counter arguments
Although many claim that the Plague of Justinian killed half of the world's population, this is not backed up. Other estimates suggest that roughly 25 million people were killed, a figure closer to 10% of the world's population.[4]
Premises
[P1] The Plague of Justinian killed half of the world's population.
[P2] Therefore, it is the deadliest and worst pandemic of all time.
Rejecting the premises
[Rejecting P1] The Plague of Justinian did not kill half of the world's population.
References
- https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-mysterious-phenomena/justinian-plague-probably-caused-bacteria-unknown-how-it-appeared-00438
- https://www.history.com/news/pandemics-end-plague-cholera-black-death-smallpox
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/1/140129-justinian-plague-black-death-bacteria-bubonic-pandemic/
- https://www.mphonline.org/worst-pandemics-in-history/