1943–1944. Total deaths. Estimated 2.1 to 3.8 million in Bengal alone. The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine in the Bengal province of British India (now Bangladesh, West Bengal and eastern India) during World War II. An estimated 2.1 to 3.8 million, out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria, and other diseases