There were also 119 Americans who died, along with 49 Syrians, 20 Canadians, 3 South Africans, 3 Uruguayans, 2 Chinese, an Australian, and a Mexican person.
You can see the full list by class below:
| Nationality | 1st Class Total | 1st Survived | 1st Died | 1st % Survived | 2nd Class Total | 2nd Survived | 2nd Died | 2nd % Survived | 3rd Class Total | 2nd Survived | 3rd Died | 3rd % Survived | Total | Survived | Died | % Survived |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | 212 | 141 | 71 | 67% | 51 | 24 | 27 | 47% | 43 | 12 | 21 | 28% | 306 | 177 | 119 | 58% |
| Australian | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% | |||
| Austro Hungarian | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25% | 44 | 7 | 37 | 16% | 49 | 8 | 41 | 16% |
| Belgian | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 22 | 5 | 17 | 23% | 24 | 6 | 18 | 25% |
| British | 45 | 20 | 25 | 44% | 164 | 68 | 96 | 41% | 118 | 18 | 100 | 15% | 327 | 104 | 223 | 32% |
| Bulgarian | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0 | 33 | 0% | 33 | 0 | 33 | 0% | ||||||
| Canadian | 27 | 13 | 14 | 48% | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% | 34 | 14 | 20 | 41% |
| Chinese | 0 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 75% | 8 | 6 | 2 | 75% | ||||||
| Danish | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 7 | 1 | 6 | 14% | 10 | 1 | 9 | 10% | |||
| Dutch | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | ||||||
| Finn | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50% | 60 | 17 | 38 | 31% | 64 | 22 | 42 | 34% | |||
| French | 12 | 11 | 1 | 92% | 14 | 7 | 7 | 50% | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0% | 31 | 18 | 13 | 58% |
| German | 3 | 3 | 0 | 100% | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25% | 10 | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Greek | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% | ||||||
| Italian | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50% | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25% | 10 | 4 | 6 | 40% |
| Irish | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 4 | 1 | 3 | 25% | 113 | 41 | 72 | 36% | 120 | 42 | 78 | 35% |
| Japanese | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% | ||||||
| Mexican | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | ||||||
| Norwegian | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 25 | 8 | 17 | 32% | 26 | 8 | 18 | 31% | |||
| Portugese | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% | |||
| Russian | 0 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 33% | 18 | 6 | 12 | 33% | 27 | 9 | 18 | 33% | |||
| South African | 0 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 50% | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 5 | 2 | 3 | 40% | |||
| Spanish | 3 | 2 | 1 | 67% | 4 | 4 | 0 | 100% | 0 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 86% | |||
| Swede | 3 | 2 | 1 | 67% | 6 | 2 | 4 | 33% | 104 | 23 | 81 | 22% | 113 | 27 | 86 | 24% |
| Swiss | 6 | 6 | 0 | 100% | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0% | 11 | 7 | 4 | 64% |
| Syrian | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 50% | 79 | 31 | 48 | 39% | 81 | 32 | 49 | 40% | |||
| Turk | 1 | 1 | 0 | 100% | 0 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 25% | 9 | 3 | 6 | 33% | |||
| Uruguayan | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0% | ||||||
| FIRST CLASS | SECOND CLASS | THIRD CLASS | Total | |||||||||||||
| Total | Survived | Died | Percent Survived | Total | Survived | Died | Percent Survived | Total | Survived | Died | Percent Survived | Total | Survived | Died | Percent Survived | |
| Grand Total | 324 | 201 | 123 | 62% | 283 | 120 | 163 | 42% | 708 | 180 | 518 | 25% | 1315 | 501 | 804 | 38% |
The data comes from John R. Henderson on his site http://www.icyousee.org/titanic.html.
For the nationalities he notes that:
- The numbers used above are adapted from a list of country of origin created by researcher Hermann Soldner. His compilations were published in Switzerland in 2000 as a booklet, “RMS Titanic: Passenger and Crew List 10 April 1912-15 April 1912.” His research was used as the primary source for the Country of Residence section of the Encyclopedia Titanica.
- Most official lists provide no breakdown by nationality beyond British and Non-British.
- If any stereotype can be read in the demographics, one might be tempted to cite those spunky Irish, almost all of whom were in steerage, but whom survived by greater precentage than the British, of whom only slightly more than half were in steerage. However, to put that premise in doubt, even more significant is that almost half of the Irish were women, and gender, not nationality, may have been a greater factor in determining likelihood of survival.
- Passengers with Third Class tickets are usually billed as immigrants and refugees, and the image that that description can be bring is one of disreputable, disease-laden, dark complected foreigners. However, almost two thirds were English-tongued British, Americans, and Irish, or fair skinned Scandinavians. The British and Swedes had among the worse survival rates among nationalities in steerage.
- By percentage, the Japanese did the best, with a 100% survival rate, but since there was only one Japanese passenger on board, that’s a meaningless statistic. The Chinese, Spanish, and Swiss also had a very high survival rate, but there numbers were also all very small. The French survived as well as the Americans, but there were one tenth as many French as Americans.
- Nationality is not equivalent to ethnicity. For example, although there is a designation for Finland, ethnic Finns living in Sweden were counted among the Swedes. As result, the number is imprecise. I have altered the number I orginally had based on figures determined by the Swedish Emigrant Institute. The majority from Austria-Hungary were neither German nor Magyar (Hungarian), but from the various Slavic ethnic groups. There were contemporary accounts of many Italians aboard the Titanic, but the statistics do not bear this out. It appears likely “Italian” was the label given most any foreigner with a dark complection.
- Haiti is not listed, but one passenger who must have been listed as French was Joseph Philippe Lemercier Laroche, who had been born in Haiti. He had been living in France for more than a decade, and his wife and two children were all born in France. He has been called the only passenger aboard the Titanic of known African ancestry.
- Countries, borders, and geopolitical understanding were quite different in 1912 than they are today. There were two Australians and five South Africans, but both nations were considered to be part of the British Commonwealth, so they were originally tallied as British. I have separated them out and subtracted the number from the British totals. There are probably many others from Commonwealth nations that should also be separated out. Turkey and Syria were both part of the Ottoman Empire, but researchers have discovered that most Middle Easterners aboard the Titanic were actually Lebanese Christians. Those listed as Syrians had one of the best survival rates of any nationality in steerage.
- Because of the small sample sizes and inexact determination of ethnicity, it seems inappropriate to make any broad conclusions about the personalities of national groups based on survival rates. There was a controversy back in January 2009 that caused this site to get a huge number of hits. The controversy occurred after the BBC and other journalists reported on research that concluded that British passengers were more likely to perish than Americans because they were more polite. In any eyewitness accounts I’ve read, I’ve seen no evidence that British men failed to get on lifeboats because of a greater degree of gentlemanliness. Surely the stigma of shame and cowardice, as well as opportunity, fear, confusion, and panic, were greater factors than politeness in who boarded the lifeboats.
If you have any interest in the Titanic I strongly urge you to visit his site here.
Want to learn more about the Titanic have a look at the following:
- Titanic Q&A: 100 Fascinating Facts for Kids (History Q&A)
- Eyewitness Titanic (DK Eyewitness)
- Titanic Legacy: The Captain, his Daughter and the Spy
- Titanic (National Geographic Kids Readers, Level 3)
- Watch Titanic
And then of course you have all the random Titanic related gifts:
- Titanic The Board Game – Centenial Collector’s Edition
- Academy 1: 1000 – R.M.S.Titanic MCP
- Titanic Resource Pack – Memorabilia Pack
- Brick Loot Iceberg Titanic Building Blocks Set with Light Kit & Motion
- Titanic and Iceberg Ice Cube Trays
Which nationality surprises you the most?