What is the difference between Pandemic and Endemic?

The difference between Pandemic and Endemic is based on the extent of disease spread. The disease spreads across countries, continents, and worldwide in a pandemic. In an endemic, the disease spreads within a region.

What does it mean that COVID is endemic?

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020 due to the endemic growth in the number of affected persons. The disease will become endemic if it isn't stopped from spreading and contained.

What is Epidemic vs Pandemic vs Endemic?

Epidemic vs Pandemic vs Endemic meaning is that an Epidemic is the quick spread of disease to a large number of people within an area in a short time, Pandemic can be seen at a global level with economic disruptions, while the Endemic affects individuals and their families or the people in the region .

What is the major difference between Pandemic and Endemic? Can an endemic become a pandemic?

The major difference between Pandemic and Endemic is that the pandemic outbreak is sudden and can spread across countries, continents, and the world , while an endemic outbreak only spreads in a specific region and can become predictable over time. An endemic can turn into a pandemic if not monitored or contained.

Endemic refers to a characteristic specific to a population, environment, or geographic area. Examples of endemic diseases are chicken pox , which strikes young schoolchildren in the United States at a predictable rate, and malaria in some parts of Africa.

What is the difference between Pandemic and Endemic based on the impact and number of fatalities?

The difference between Pandemic and Endemic based on the number of deaths is that the deaths in a pandemic are higher in numbers compared to disease spread in an endemic. It is because Endemic disease outbreaks happen only in a specific region.

Home/
IAS/
Article

Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic – Endemic vs Pandemic

By BYJU'S Exam Prep

Updated on: November 14th, 2023

The difference between pandemic and endemic is that pandemic refers to a disease that spreads over countries and continents, whereas an endemic refers to a condition where a disease affects many people at one time and spreads from person to person in places where it is not common. An endemic can turn into a pandemic if not contained. People live in an ocean of bacteria and viruses.

Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic PDF

These viruses and bacteria spread infectious diseases that can spread in multiple ways. At times infectious diseases break the threshold and spread across the country or can have a global impact. This spread of infectious diseases is classified using terminologies like pandemic, endemic, and epidemic. It is also important to understand the difference between Pandemic and Endemic for categorizing infectious diseases.

Table of content

1. Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic
2. Endemic and Pandemic
3. What is an Endemic?
4. What is a Pandemic?
5. Key Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic

Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic

The basic difference between pandemic and endemic is that infectious disease spreads across countries, continents, and the entire world in a pandemic. On the other hand, the disease is spread only within one region and is endemic. The following table lists the major difference between endemic and pandemic based on various parameters.

Endemic vs Pandemic

Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic
Parameters	Pandemic	Endemic
Definition	Disease outbreaks in a country, continent or the entire world are known as pandemic.	Disease outbreaks in a specific region is known as endemic.
Permanency	The sudden outbreak spreads globally.	It is found permanently present in a region or a population.
Derivation	Derived from the Greek words pan means all and demos means people.	Derived from the Greek words, En means in, and demos means people.
Rate of Spread	Rapid rates and new cases appear every day.	Constant rate and spread are stable and get predictable over time.
Examples	COVID-19 outbreak New Viral Strain	Caribbean Dengue Chickenpox in the UK Malaria in Africa
Deaths	It can cause high numbers of death.	It does not cause very high numbers of death.
Consequences	Social disruption Economic Loss	Cases in communities Individuals and family suffering
Contact with Wild Animals	Hunting and eating wild animals can lead to the spread of viruses from the wild animals.	No such connection is observed.
Prediction of Spread	Difficult to predict.	Spread can be predicted over time.

Endemic and Pandemic

A pandemic involves an even wider spread, frequently encompassing the entire globe. However, it is said to be endemic when a disease spreads persistently and frequently in a specific area or region. Here we have provided the difference between pandemic and endemic along with a brief introduction.

What is an Endemic?

An Endemic is an infectious disease outbreak in a limited region that spreads at a limited rate. An endemic disease can become a pandemic or endemic and vice versa. For example, cholera was an illness that was caused by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the bacteria, Vibrio cholera.

The disease originated in India, but the outbreak spread globally.
In several regions, cholera is now endemic.

What is a Pandemic?

There are several differences between pandemic and endemic with respect to region, extent, and number of deaths. A pandemic is a kind of endemic where the infectious disease gets spread to a large area like a country, continent, or the entire world.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines a pandemic as the spread of a new infectious disease in the entire world.
The number of infectious disease cases exponentially grows during a pandemic.

COVID-19 Pandemic

As our world faces one of the most detrimental pandemics of COVID-19, many people are intrigued to know the difference between Endemic and Pandemic.
The pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus claimed several lives worldwide, and several new variants are now causing diseases at different rates.

Conclusion:

Key Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic

The key Difference Between Pandemic and Endemic is that Pandemic disease spreads over a big part that covers whole countries or even continents, impacting a significant portion of the population, whereas an Endemic infection occurs in a maintained population at a baseline level of the geographic location.

Related Articles
Difference Between Strategy and Tactics	Difference Between Constitution and Constitutionalism
Difference Between NRI and PIO	Difference Between Hindustani and Carnatic Music
Difference Between Ethics and Ethos	De Facto vs De Jure
Folding and Faulting	Difference Between Axis and Central Powers of World War 1 and 2