According to a study, there were large regional differences in excess mortality in Europe during the coronavirus pandemic. This is the result of a data analysis by the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) and the French Institute for Demographic Studies. The life expectancy actually expected for 2020 and 2021 based on long-term developments was compared with the life expectancy actually measured in 569 regions.
According to a BiB statement on Wednesday, in the first year of the pandemic in 2020, a significant excess mortality was observed, particularly in northern Italy, southern Switzerland, central Spain and Poland – in other words, life expectancy fell. In parts of northern and western Germany, Denmark, western and southern France, Norway and Sweden, on the other hand, a lower mortality rate was recorded.
In Italy, for example, there were very strong regional differences within the country: while in the northern Italian provinces of Bergamo and Cremona, life expectancy was around four years below the expected value due to excess mortality in the first year of the pandemic, in some southern Italian provinces at the same time no increased mortality was measurable.
Excess mortality shifted to Eastern Europe in 2021, but increased in Austria as a whole
According to the study, in the second year of the pandemic, 2021, excess mortality shifted to Eastern Europe. In Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, and parts of Poland and the Czech Republic, life expectancy was more than two and a half years below the statistically expected value. Compared to Eastern Europe, many Western European regions showed lower excess mortality in 2021.
In Austria as a whole, however, excess mortality increased from 2020 to 2021. In the first year of the pandemic, only Styria had a life expectancy that was more than one year lower, but this figure improved again in the state in 2021. In contrast, Vienna, Lower Austria, Upper Austria and Salzburg achieved a higher excess mortality of more than one year lower life expectancy in 2021.
“The reasons for the large regional differences are complex and can be traced back, among other things, to the different proportion of vulnerable people,” explained co-author Michael Mühlichen from BiB. “The extent to which relevant pre-existing conditions are regionally widespread depends on the age structure and risk behavior of the population, which in turn are influenced by socioeconomic conditions.”
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