Average smallpox death rate in selected European countries 1893-1897

Following the Great Smallpox Pandemic of the 1870s, many countries in Europe introduced or enforced mandatory vaccination. Across Britain, Germany and Sweden, the average number of smallpox deaths fell to record lows (the British averages were actually higher than usual due to an epidemic in the early 1890s), while in Central and Western Europe, where compulsory or enforced vaccination was relatively new, many countries had smallpox death rates per million inhabitants below 100. Vaccination was encouraged in Russia and Spain during this time (mandatory smallpox vaccination was not introduced until 1919 and 1921 respectively), and their average smallpox death rates greatly surpassed those of other European countries in the 1890s.