The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic affected both individual citizens (due to the introduction of quarantine measures and self-isolation regimes, changes in work, study and recreation modes), as well as various sectors of the economy (especially air and rail transportation, tourism, catering, entertainment, etc.), and even the global econo-my as a whole, due to the interruption of supply chains, a sharp decline in oil prices, the collapse of world stock markets and major stock indices. The article examines the impact of the pandemic on the economic situation of the largest coun-tries of the world. The absolute and relative changes in the population of 25 countries, where almost three quarters of the world's population lived during the pre-pandemic and pandemic years, as well as the share of COVID-19 infections and deaths from infection in each of the countries under consideration were analyzed. Changes in the main economic indica-tors for the specified period in these countries, such as the unemployment rate, the inflation rate, changes in the nominal GDP of countries and GDP per capita, were also considered. As a result, conclusions about the ambiguous impact of the pandemic on the main economic indicators were drawn. There was a sharp slowdown in economic activity of developed countries with stable economies during the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic spread in the first half of 2020 and the subsequent rapid recovery of the economies. In weak developing countries, the pandemic has affected the economic situation much more strongly, exacerbating the existing economic, political, environmental, demographic and other prob-lems as well as worsening economic indicators. © 2023 Author(s).