Population figures for the Middle Ages are not exact, so it is difficult to know how many people died of the Black Death before the epidemic stopped in the 1350s. However, it seems likely that over all Europe at least one person in four died from it. In many places, the figure was much higher. It took generations, in some areas even centuries, for the population to recover. This was not helped by the way that the plague did not just go away, but kept on returning.

Figures for England in 1348 show a population of about 3.7 million; by 1377, this had dropped to about 2.2 million. Over all Europe between 1347 and 1351 about 25 million people died from the plague.

Filed under: Medieval