The COVID-19 Sex-Disaggregated Data Tracker assesses the availability of sex-disaggregated data from over 200 countries (and counting). Data was previously updated every two weeks, but from April 2021 was collected and reported monthly. Due to a decline in country reporting of COVID-19 data, we have paused manual data collection. The final round of manual data collection was conducted in June 2022. The dashboard will continue to be updated monthly with sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19 cases and deaths from the WHO COVID-19 Detailed Surveillance Data Dashboard. At present no other variables will be updated with new data.
As of September 2022
In January 2022 we began integrating sex-disaggregated data from the available WHO COVID-19 dashboards every month, supplemented by manual data collection every other month. However as global reporting of COVID-19 data has reduced, as of July 2022 we are pausing our manual data collection methodology. Sex-disaggregated data on COVID-19 cases and deaths will continue to be updated monthly with new available data from the WHO COVID-19 Detailed Surveillance Data Dashboard. At present no other indicators will be updated on the dashboard. If further manual data collection occurs, this page will be updated to reflect this.
As of January 2022
In January 2022, we adopted a new data collection strategy. The sex disaggregated data on the indicators (cases, deaths, hospitalisations and healthcare workers) available from the WHO COVID-19 Detailed Surveillance Data Dashboard and data for vaccinations from WHO Coronavirus Dashboard were integrated to the dashboard every month. This was followed by manual data collection every alternate month to supplement data on the indicators not available from WHO dashboard. Data for January 2022 include data from WHO dashboard alone, therefore information on testing and ICU admission was not updated in January. These data were available from manual data collection in February. In January, we compared the data from WHO dashboard and historical data from the tracker to ensure that the trend is consistent over the period. Further information can be found in our data release notes.
The Tracker collects sex-disaggregated data on vaccinations, testing, confirmed cases (including among healthcare workers), hospitalisations, ICU admissions and deaths. The full data collection protocol can be found here.
Further notes on our methodology and release notes for each update are available to view here.
As of October 2020, we will be producing monthly global reports alongside our data updates to summarise key messages from the trends we are seeing in the data. Regional update reports covering the South-East Asia & Eastern Mediterranean and African Regions will be produced quarterly. The reports can be explored here.
This tracker collects data on confirmed cases of COVID-19. A confirmed case of COVID-19, as defined by the World Health Organization, is based on laboratory confirmation of COVID-19 infection, irrespective of clinical signs and symptoms. However, international bodies can only report data as it is submitted by national governments and reporting institutions. Countries can define slightly different criteria for how cases are defined and reported.
It should also be noted that the case reporting chain, from doctor or laboratory to health department to national authority, can take several days. Thus the number of confirmed cases reported by any institution on a given day does not necessarily represent the actual number of new cases on that date. Case and contact definitions are based on the current available information and are regularly revised as new information accumulates.
Further information on case definitions, including suspect and probable cases, can be found via the WHO.
The tracker uses the following indicators:
At Least One Dose – individuals who have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This includes individuals who have received one dose of a two dose vaccine as well as individuals who have received a single dose vaccine.
Fully Vaccinated – individuals who have received all doses of required of their vaccine. This includes individuals who have received two doses of a two dose vaccine and individuals who have received a single dose of a single dose vaccine.
Fully vaccinated individuals will be counted in both indicators.
In cases where countries do not specify which dose individuals received or the completeness of vaccinations, that data will be captured as ‘at least one dose’. In cases where only fully vaccinated individuals are reported, that data will be entered for both indicators.
Indicators used for reporting, vaccines available and the population eligible for vaccination vary across countries and are changing over time. Our indicators seek to be as inclusive as possible to allow for comparisons across countries based on the sex-disaggregated vaccination data the countries provide. We publish the source for the vaccine data for each country and encourage anyone using this data to reference the sources and the countries’ documentation on these indicators.
This tracker uses data as reported by national governments. It contains data on the breakdown of reported deaths among individuals with a confirmed COVID-19 infection. In many countries, only deaths in certain settings (e.g. hospitals) are being reported, and not everyone dying of COVID-19 will have been diagnosed with the virus. This means that it is highly probable that current data does not provide a full picture of the total number of cases of COVID-19 or deaths resulting from an infection.
A case fatality rate (CFR) presents the number of deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 (people who have been tested and confirmed as having a COVID-19 infection).
An infection fatality rate (IFR) represents the number of deaths divided by the actual number of cases of COVID-19.
The total number of COVID-19 cases is not known. There are likely to be a significantly larger number of cases of COVID-19 than are being diagnosed through laboratory testing, given the lack of widespread testing in many countries, which makes any calculations of the IFR quite unreliable.
This tracker reports on the proportion of reported deaths divided by the number of confirmed cases within a country.
For information on the gendered differences we are seeing in COVID-19, please refer to Men, Sex, Gender and COVID-19 page.
