People with a low income are more at risk of death from corona. The effect of income differentials on corona mortality is greater for people younger than 70 years than for people over 70. This is evident from new figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics. Statistics Netherlands, together with the Amsterdam UMC, analyzed the mortality figures during the first wave of the corona pandemic, from March to July last year.
During that first wave, a total of 10,067 residents of the Netherlands died, in whom covid-19 was diagnosed or in whom the suspicion was very strong. The researchers wanted to know whether the disease was more severe among certain population groups such as non-Western migrants and among people with a low income.
Non-Western Migrants
Dutch people with a migration background had a higher risk of dying from covid-19 in the period from March to July. This was especially true for people with a non-Western migration background. During the last weeks of the first wave, the risk of death for people with a non-Western migration background was one and a half times higher than for people of Dutch descent.
Not all migrant groups were hit equally hard. The mortality risk was greater among people with a Turkish or Surinamese background than among people with a Moroccan or Antillean background.
The differences were not the same in all regions. Their mortality risk was especially increased in the regions of Amsterdam, Haaglanden and Rotterdam-Rijnmond. This was not the case in the south of the country, where the outbreak hit first. There, corona affected everyone, regardless of migration background.
70 minners
It is striking that income differences are especially large among people younger than 70 years. The chance of dying from COVID-19 at that age was nearly three times higher in the lower and higher income groups. According to the researchers, this could be due to smaller housing in which they live and their working conditions. As a result, people run a greater risk of becoming infected. Incidentally, it also applies to other diseases that people with lower incomes die earlier from them.
Incidentally, this covid analysis only covers the period from March to July last year. How mortality risk has evolved remains to be investigated further.
–
