How did the death toll of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic compare with the 1918–19 influenza pandemic?

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Caring for flu victims — influenza pandemic (H1N1) of 2009 Doctors at the Mexico City Navy Hospital wearing protective gear as they tend to patients complaining of H1N1 flu-like symptoms.

The death toll of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic was substantially lower than that of the influenza pandemic of 1918–19.1

While the 1918–19 pandemic, often called the Spanish flu, is estimated to have caused between 25 million and 50 million deaths worldwide, the 2009 H1N1 pandemic resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 575,000 deaths.21

Despite the significantly lower mortality rate of the 2009 outbreak, it was characterized by an unprecedented speed of global dissemination, which experts attributed to the high volume of international passenger travel in the modern era. In contrast, the 1918–19 pandemic occurred during World War I, where the movement of troops and limited medical knowledge contributed to its devastating impact.1345