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Statistics Estonia publishes weekly statistics on deaths

News
Posted on 29 April 2020, 11:00
Statistics Estonia will start to publish each week the number of deaths of Estonian inhabitants in the previous week and the breakdown by sex and age group. The data are updated on Tuesdays for as long as it is necessary to assess the impact of the emergency situation.

Last week, 302 Estonian inhabitants died, including 167 females and 135 males. The most deaths (155) were those of over 80-year-olds, 90 persons died at the age of 65–79 and 57 persons were under 65 years old.

The published statistics on deaths are comparable by week starting from the beginning of 2017. Also, the ten‑year average number of deaths is shown for each week.

According to Alis Tammur, leading analyst at Statistics Estonia, the weekly statistics allow to observe better, for example, the impact of the coronavirus disease on the number of deaths. “Besides the total number of deaths, it is important to observe whether there is a change in the number of deaths by age group and what kind of change it is,” added Tammur.

This year, the most deaths in one week occurred between 9–15 March when 335 Estonian inhabitants died. Generally, during the year, there are more deaths from December to March and on average less in June, July, August and September.

The weekly statistics on deaths can be found on Statistics Estonia’s website as well as in the statistical database (currently only in Estonian).

The first person in Estonia was diagnosed with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on 27 February 2020. The news of the first death resulting from the novel coronavirus came on 25 March. A month and a half after the emergency situation was declared, it makes sense to look at the impact of the coronavirus disease on death statistics. The figure shows the statistics on deaths from 2017 to 2020 by week. The data for 2017 and 2018 are final, but the data for 2019 and 2020, based on the population register, are preliminary and will be revised. The figure also shows the ten-year average number of deaths by week. The number of deaths depends on the season: in December, January, February and March there are on average more deaths, while in the summer months June, July, August and September there are fewer deaths. The middle line along with the fluctuations of prior years gives background for comparing the current changes.