Чи вбила малярія половину всіх людей?

The claim that malaria killed about 50 billion of the 108 billion people who have ever lived is not a reliable historical estimate. The popular version traces to the phrase “may have killed half” in a short 2002 *Nature* item, which provided no calculation or source for that figure. Medical statistician Brian Faragher told the BBC there is no evidence supporting that share; his rough estimate was closer to 4–5% of all historical deaths, itself highly uncertain. Records of causes of death before modern surveillance are far too incomplete for an exact total. Malaria has been and remains a major infectious disease, but 50 billion and “half of humanity” are speculative exaggerations.