Top 50: Cumulative cases by income

This chart takes a snapshot of the Top 50 countries which currently have the highest cumulative COVID-19 cases in absolute numbers since the start of the pandemic. It groups the countries by World Bank income group and ranks them within each group by the daily absolute case toll. 

The absolute expression of cases is useful to highlight the the contribution of countries or groups of countries to the global total. In contrast, case rates, which express the absolute number of cases relative to population size, provide an indication of performance controlling for population size. 

Finally, it should be noted that limitations to testing will mean that the number of confirmed cases is lower than the true number of infections.