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What percentage of Allied prisoners died or were killed in Japanese captivity during World War II?

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Map showing the height of Japanese territorial expansion in 1942 during World War II, with a large hatched area covering much of East and Southeast Asia and the western Pacific, including parts of China, Korea, Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and numerous Pacific islands. Japan's home islands are shaded in solid red, while the expansion area stretches from India and Burma in the west to the Aleut — Burma Railway In World War II Japanese military forces quickly took advantage of their success at Pearl Harbor to expand their holdings throughout the Pacific and westward toward India. This expansion continued relatively unchecked until mid-1942. Then, after losing the Battle of Midway, Japan was forced on the defensive.

During World War II, approximately 27 percent of Allied prisoners of war died or were killed while in Japanese custody. This figure stands in stark contrast to the death rate for Allied prisoners held in German camps, which was approximately 4 percent.1

The conditions faced by these prisoners were often deplorable, characterized by forced labor, malnutrition, disease, and physical abuse. For example, among American forces captured on the Bataan Peninsula, the death rate exceeded 30 percent. Additionally, the transport of prisoners on vessels known as "Hell ships" resulted in a mortality rate of one in five.12