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Excess deaths in England and Wales during the first year of COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Laliotis, Ioannis
  • Stavropoulou, Charitini
  • Ceely, Greg
  • Brett, Georgia
  • Rushton, Rachel

Abstract

Using officially registered weekly death data, we estimate a baseline count of excess deaths during 2020 in England and Wales. We break down this number by region, age, gender, place, and cause of death. Our results suggest that there were 82,428 excess deaths in 2020 after the pandemic onset. Almost 90% of these excess deaths were due to COVID-19, suggesting that non-COVID-19 excess mortality may have been slightly higher that what has been previously estimated. Regarding deaths not due to COVID-19, individuals older than 45 years old who died at their homes, mainly from heart diseases and cancer, were the most affected. Supported by regional panel event estimates, our results highlight how measures to mitigate the pandemic spread and ease the pressure on healthcare service systems may adversely affect out-of-hospital mortality from other causes.

Suggested Citation

  • Laliotis, Ioannis & Stavropoulou, Charitini & Ceely, Greg & Brett, Georgia & Rushton, Rachel, 2022. "Excess deaths in England and Wales during the first year of COVID-19," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1117, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1117
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Damian Clarke & Kathya Tapia-Schythe, 2021. "Implementing the panel event study," Stata Journal, StataCorp LLC, vol. 21(4), pages 853-884, December.
    2. David Adam, 2022. "The pandemic’s true death toll: millions more than official counts," Nature, Nature, vol. 601(7893), pages 312-315, January.
    3. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2021. "Excess Deaths in the United States During the First Year of COVID-19," NBER Working Papers 29503, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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