the Western and Eastern halves of the Roman Empire at the time, this pandemic was another player in its centuries-long decline and fall.
The bubonic plague, or "Black Death" , killed so many people that living standards improved for the survivors. It also marked the second-largest economic contraction in UK history, according to a Deutsche Bank report.Deutsche Bank report looking at economic contractions in the UK going as far back as 1271 noted that the second largest was during the Black Death. The economy contracted by 23.5% in 1349.
"The mortality rate as a result of the bubonic plague outbreak then was far in excess of today's pandemic, with the Bank of England dataset showing that the English population fell from 4.81m in 1348 to just 2.60m in 1351, a reduction of over 40% in the space of 3 years. But it goes to show that pandemics have gone hand-in-hand with major economic contractions through history," Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid noted.