Countries around the world are racing to get their populations vaccinated, with 30% of the globe now protected against serious disease and death from covid-19. But some countries are doing better than others since Gizmodo last checked back in July.
Sadly, the U.S. has slipped from 18th place to 40th, with many wealthy countries getting vaccines in arms much faster than America over the past few months. The U.S. covid-19 vaccination rate currently sits at a stubbornly low 54.44%.
The list below shows the percentage of each country’s population that’s been vaccinated, based on data from Johns Hopkins University. We’ve also included each country’s population numbers for perspective, though the best vaccination rates in the world aren’t necessarily dominated by small countries anymore. China, for example, has vaccinated over 69% of its population of 1.4 billion people, well above the U.S., which has a population of just 328 million people.
But smaller countries also saw significant gains, including Singapore, population 5.7 million, which did an exceptional job over the past couple of months, going from 21st in the world to third best vaccination rate on the planet. Singapore now has over 79% of its population now vaccinated and it’s opening up its economy in significant ways.
- Malta - 82.82%, population: 502,000
- United Arab Emirates - 79.97%, population: 9.7 million
- Singapore - 79.10%, population: 5.7 million
- Portugal - 78.85%, population: 10.2 million
- Qatar - 78.33%, population: 2.8 million
- Spain - 74.50%, population: 46.9 million
- Denmark - 73.73%, population: 5.8 million
- Iceland - 73.63%, population: 357,000
- Chile - 73.36%, population: 18.9 million
- Uruguay - 73.30%, population: 3.4 million
- Seychelles - 72.63%, population: 97,000
- Belgium - 71.73%, population: 11.4 million
- Ireland - 71.02%, population: 4.9 million
- San Marino - 70.85%, population: 34,000
- China - 69.38%, population: 1.4 billion
- Canada - 69.17%, population: 37.5 million
- Bahrain - 66.82%, population: 1.6 million
- United Kingdom - 65.68%, population: 66.6 million
- Mongolia - 65.51%, population: 3.2 million
- Norway - 64.15%, population: 5.3 million
- Italy - 63.83%, population: 60.3 million
- France - 62.94%, population: 67 million
- Netherlands - 62.68%, population: 17.2 million
- Bhutan - 62.63%, population 763,000
- Germany - 62.02%, population: 83 million
- Israel - 61.18%, population: 9 million
- Mauritius - 60.31%, population: 1.2 million
- Austria - 59.68%, population: 8.8 million
- Sweden - 59.62%, population: 10.2 million
- Maldives - 59.33%, population: 531,000
- Monaco - 58.54%, population: 39,000
- Luxembourg - 58.08%, population: 614,000
- Cambodia - 57.28%, population: 16.5 million
- Hungary - 56.72%, population: 9.7 million
- Finland - 56.34%, population: 5.5 million
- Lithuania - 56.26%, population: 2.8 million
- Ecuador - 55.10%, population: 17.4 million
- Czechia - 54.74%, population: 10.6 million
- Greece - 54.54%, population: 10.6 million
- United States - 54.44%, population: 328 million
- Liechtenstein - 54.28%, population 38,000
- Andorra - 54.23%, population: 77,000
- Malaysia - 53.29%, population: 31.9 million
- Switzerland - 52.76%, population: 8.5 million
- Poland - 50.29%, population: 37.9 million
- Japan - 49.96%, population: 126.3 million
- Saudi Arabia - 48.51%, population: 34.2 million
- Turkey - 48.13%, population: 82 million
- Sri Lanka - 47.73%, population: 21.8 million
- El Salvador - 47.64%, population: 6.4 million
As the New York Times points out in an article over the weekend, the U.S. now ranks among the lowest vaccination rates for wealthy countries. Some wealthy countries like Australia are still struggling, with just 33.79% of its population vaccinated, but that’s way up from 12.18% back in late July. Japan is another rich country that has struggled with its vaccine rollout, currently ranking below the U.S. at only 49.96% fully vaccinated.
America’s relatively low vaccination rate is having devastating effects for everybody, with a surge in new cases and hospitalizations the country hasn’t seen since 2020. The U.S. is averaging over 145,000 new cases each day and 1,648 new deaths.
The pandemic isn’t going to end until every country achieves vaccination rates like the countries at the top of this list. But right now, that’s looking increasingly difficult in countries like the U.S., where covid-19 vaccination has become weaponized as a political issue by the likes of Fox News and far-right wing politicians.
According to the most recent polling among registered voters by Civiqs, 91% of Democrats have been vaccinated for covid-19 with another 4% of Democrats who say they plan to get vaccinated. Meanwhile, just 53% of Republicans have been vaccinated, with an additional 2% saying they plant to get vaccinated. According to the same poll, 38% of Republicans say they have no plans to get vaccinated against covid-19.
Get vaccinated today if you haven’t already, no matter where you are in the world. It’s the least you can do to help get us out of this pandemic. The covid-19 vaccines are safe and effective, despite whatever craven nonsense is being spouted today on Fox News. You don’t even need to get vaccinated for anyone else. Get vaccinated for yourself and dramatically decrease your chance of serious disease and death from covid-19. It’ll be the best selfish decision you make all year.
Correction: The population of the United Kingdom was originally listed as 56.6 million. It’s actually 66.6 million. Gizmodo regrets the error.