Eurostat: Bulgaria had EU’s highest excess mortality in September 2021
Bulgaria had the highest excess mortality in the European Union in September 2021, according to figures released on November 16 by EU statistics agency Eurostat.
Eurostat said that in September 2021, excess mortality in the EU ranged from more than 50 per cent in Bulgaria to less than four per cent in Belgium, Sweden and Hungary.
The statistics agency said that excess mortality refers to the number of deaths from all causes measured during a crisis, above what could be observed in “normal” conditions.
The excess mortality indicator draws attention to the magnitude of the health crisis by providing a comprehensive comparison of additional deaths among the European countries and allows for further analysis of its causes, Eurostat said.
“While a substantial increase in excess mortality largely coincides with the Covid-19 outbreak, this indicator does not discriminate among the causes of death and does not catch differences across sex or age classes.”
Eurostat said that excess mortality in the EU increased again during the summer months.
Following a minimum of five per cent in July, this indicator rose to eight per cent in August and 12 per cent in September 2021, compared with the averages of the same months in 2016 – 2019.
The EU registered a peak in excess deaths in April 2021 (+20 per cent) and another in November 2020 (+40 per cent), Eurostat said.
According to figures posted by Bulgaria’s unified information portal, a total of 1986 people in Bulgaria who had tested positive for Covid-19 died in September 2021.
According to National Statistical Institute figures, Bulgaria’s overall death toll in September 2021 was 10 868, a figure that includes deaths of Bulgarian citizens and foreigners in the country, but not those of Bulgarians abroad.
Bulgaria’s overall death toll in September 2021 was 43.9 per cent higher than its September 2020 overall death toll.
(Main photo, of the entrance to Sofia Central Cemetery: Edal Anton Lefterov)
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