For the third year in a row, more people died in our country than expected. Heat, covid and flu played a role. The question is whether there is more going on.
In 2022, 116,404 inhabitants of Belgium died, at least according to the provisional figures of Statbel. Because some deaths are reported late, that number will increase somewhat. It is now official: 2022 was significantly more deadly than 2021, when 112,291 people in our lives lost their lives.
The excess mortality, the number of unexpected deaths, was also higher in 2022 than in 2021. According to Sciensano, there were 5,600 more deaths than expected last year. In 2021 there were 5,200. Statbel estimates the excess mortality in 2022 at around 6,000.
Admittedly, fewer people died in 2022 than in 2020, when covid wreaked havoc. Then 126,850 people died. But 2022 is, after 2020, the deadliest year since 1976. If we also take into account the increased population, it will be since 2003 that there were so many deaths.
Minder covid
That 2022 was so deadly is astounding at first glance. In 2022, the omikron variant of the coronavirus was dominant, causing fewer deaths in a well-vaccinated population. Still, 4,981 people died with corona last year. In 2021 there were 8,564.
The months with the highest excess mortality were April, August and December. There was a flu epidemic in April and December. From November, RSV, another condition that leads to respiratory problems, was also on the rise. In December it was also very cold for a short time and there was a lot of fine dust in the air. This also causes additional mortality.
• Particulate matter peak contributed to a mortality peak in December
The fact that there were more deaths than expected in August was due to the heat. Heat can also be deadly for older people. Sciensano’s figures show that the excess mortality is mainly among the elderly. Of the additional deaths, more than half were older than 85 years, and more than 90 percent older than 65 years. But last year more than 600 more young people died than expected.
Deferred care
Belgium is not the only country to have experienced a significant excess mortality in 2022. In the Netherlands, for example, 14,500 more people died than expected. At 9.3 percent, the excess mortality is higher than in Belgium (5.5 percent).
A provisionally unanswered question is to what extent delayed care due to the corona waves has caused additional deaths. Especially in 2020 and 2021, a lot of interventions were postponed, and were also fewer cancer diagnoses. This suggests that many tumors were not detected.
Being in the Netherlands elf investigations started into the excess mortality during the covid pandemic. The extent to which delayed care led to excess mortality is also being investigated. New studies will also be started in the coming months, including a closer look at the effect of covid vaccinations.
