It’s a serious risk, and it’s something the world could be smarter about. The worst pandemic in modern history was the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed tens of millions of people. Today, with how interconnected the world is, it would spread faster.
Most of the reported epidemics happened in countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, The Democratic Republic of Congo is leading that list, followed by Nigeria, Niger, Uganda and Sudan. Many of the epidemics are caused by bacterial infections, that benefit from bad sanitation facilities. The only non African country among the Top 10 is India, where the epidemics are mostly Japanese Encephalitis and Cholera.
