Coronavirus: excess mortality in EU peaked in November, Cyprus last May

Excess mortality in the EU peaked at 40.4 per cent in November 2020, at 25.4 per cent in May 2020 for Cyprus

The number of deaths in the EU in the Spring 2020 started to rise rapidly due to Covid-19, according to data released by Eurostat on Tuesday.

In some parts of Europe, deaths were exceptionally high when compared with the average mortality of previous years. Eurostat defines “excess mortality”, as “the increase in the total number of deaths, from any cause, compared with deaths in the previous years”.

In total, over 450,000 additional deaths occurred in the EU between March and November 2020 compared with the same period in 2016 – 2019.

During the early rise of Covid-19, the excess mortality in the EU reached its first peak in April 2020, with an increase of 25 per cent compared with the average of the same month over 2016 – 2019.

Between May and July, a lower level of excess mortality was registered, while yet another surge in mortality started in August – September with the next wave of the pandemic.

The excess mortality in the EU was 8 per cent above the average in September, +17 per cent in October and +40.4 per cent in November, with the indicator rising in all EU Member States.

Although the excess mortality was observed during the entire year, across Europe, the peaks and intensity of outbreaks varied greatly across countries.

In Cyprus, excess mortality peaked at 25.4 per cent in May 2020 and stands at 18.2 per cent for December 2020.

In Greece excess mortality peaked at 34.7 per cent for November 2020.