Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
1.2. Contact organisation unit
F2: Population and migration.
1.3. Contact name
Restricted from publication
1.4. Contact person function
Restricted from publication
1.5. Contact mail address
2920 Luxembourg LUXEMBOURG
1.6. Contact email address
Restricted from publication
1.7. Contact phone number
Restricted from publication
1.8. Contact fax number
Restricted from publication
2.1. Metadata last certified
14 March 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
14 March 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
14 March 2025
3.1. Data description
Eurostat’s annual data collections on demographic statistics are structured as follows:
NOWCAST: Annual data collection on provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least six months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of the Commission implementing regulation (EU) No 205/2014).
DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual data collection on provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of the Commission implementing regulation (EU) No 205/2014).
POPSTAT (Population Statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional demographic and migration data collection. The data relate to populations, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces, and is broken down into several categories (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).
The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary demographic data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’.
The completeness of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and completeness of information provided by the national statistical institutes. For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’.
The following statistics on deaths are collected from the National Statistical Institutes:
Deaths by month of occurrence
Deaths by age, year of birth, sex and by:
Region (NUTS 2) of residence;
Region (NUTS 3) of residence;
Country of birth;
Country of citizenship;
Legal marital status;
Educational attainment (ISCED 2011).
Infant deaths by age and sex;
Infant deaths by parents' level of educational attainment (ISCED);
Late foetal deaths by mother's age.
Statistics on mortality: based on the different breakdowns of data on deaths received, Eurostat produces the following:
Statistics available in the online table Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level (demo_gind):
Natural change of population, crude death rate.
Statistics available in the online table Infant mortality rates (demo_find):
Infant mortality rate;
Neonatal mortality rate;
Early neonatal mortality rate;
Late foetal mortality rate;
Perinatal mortality rate.
Life table (demo_mlifetable);
Life expectancy by age and sex (demo_mlexpec);
Life expectancy by age, sex and educational attainment (ISCED 2011) (demo_mlexpecedu).
Death means the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after life birth has taken place (postnatal cessation of vital functions without capability of resuscitation).
Infant death means the death of a live-born infant who has not yet completed 1 year of life.
Foetal death means the death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, the death being indicated by the fact that after such separation the foetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles.
Late foetal death means foetal deaths of 28 weeks or more of completed weeks of gestation.
Stillbirth means the expulsion or extraction from the mother of a dead foetus after the time at which it would normally be presumed capable of independent extra uterine existence (commonly taken to be after 24 or 28 weeks of gestation). Infants who are born alive but die shortly after birth are excluded from this category.
Crude death rate: the ratio of the number of deaths during the year to the average population in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 population.
Infant mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under one year of age during the year to the number of live births in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 live births.
Early neonatal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under one week during the year to the number of live births in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 live births.
Late foetal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of still births during the year to the number of total births (live births + still births) in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 births.
Neonatal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under 28 days during the year to the number of live births in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 live births
Perinatal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under one week and the stillbirths during the year, to the number of births in that year (including still births). The value is expressed per 1000 births.
Life expectancy at certain ages represents the mean number of years still to be lived by a person who has reached a certain exact age, if subjected throughout the rest of his or her life to the current mortality conditions (age-specific probabilities of dying).
The Life table is one of the most important and most widely used devices in demography, summarizing various aspects of the variation of mortality with age and showing, for each age, the probability that a person of that age will die before their next birthday. One column of the table is "age" followed by columns that tabulate age-related functions pertaining to mortality: the numbers of survivors to various ages, deaths in particular age intervals, age specific death rates, probabilities of death in various age intervals, and life expectancy at given exact age. The methodology for the calculation of Life table can be consulted in "Annex" at the bottom of the page.
Age definition:
Most National Statistical Institutes of the EU Member States provide data on the number of deaths by two "age" related concepts: age at last birthday and year of birth. Deaths data are compiled and disseminated, based on the data collected, as follows:
by age completed (age at last birthday), and
by age reached during the year (reference year minus year of birth of the deceased person).
The availability of data on deaths by the two concepts among the countries starts at different moment of time series. Eurostat uses the concept of age completed when calculating mortality indicators.
The open-ended age class (Y_OPEN code in the AGE dimension in the online data tables) is a way of presenting different open-ended age classes for data on deaths by age provided by the countries. An open-ended age class contains all the people older than the last single age for which a country can provide data. For example, if a country can provide data on deaths by single year of age up to 94, the open-ended age class contains people aged 95 and over.
3.5. Statistical unit
The statistical unit used is ''number'', as indicated in the online database or by the title of tables.
3.6. Statistical population
The statistical population is the total population. For more information on the population concepts used, please see the reference metadata on Population.
3.7. Reference area
The deaths statistics are disseminated by single country, by region and by aggregates of countries, as follows:
Other countries: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Monaco, Russian Federation, San Marino and United Kingdom.
The geographical aggregates: European Union and euro area (dissemination covers at least their current and previous form), the European Economic Area (EEA) and the EFTA.
For details on geographical changes that have taken place over time, see the notes by country under 15.2 Comparability over time.
National refers to the territory of a Member State within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003, applicable at the reference time.
Regional refers to NUTS level 1, NUTS level 2 or NUTS level 3 as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 and according to the classification in force at the reference time. When this term is used in connection with countries that are not members of the European Union, 'regional' means the statistical regions at level 1, 2 or 3 as agreed between those countries and the Commission (Eurostat), at the reference time.
Statistics from the UK are available only until the withdrawal of the country from the EU.
3.8. Coverage - Time
The time series compiled and published in the Eurostat database varies, depending on the breakdowns, with the longest time series starting in 1960 for national data and 1990 for regional data, and continuing through to the latest available reference year.
The completeness of the time series for demographic and migration statistics collected on a voluntary basis before the regulations listed under ‘6.1 Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’ entered into force, and for statistics that continue to be supplied to Eurostat on a voluntary basis, depends on the availability of data sent to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data on deaths are disseminated as integer numbers and as rates.
The reference period for vital events data is the calendar year in which the events occurred. For the monthly time series the reference period is the month of occurrence.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
Documents
Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 July 2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 311/76 on the compilation of statistics on foreign workers.
Commission Regulation (EU) No 351/2010 implementing Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection as regards the definitions of the categories of the groups of country of birth, groups of country of previous usual residence, groups of country of next usual residence and groups of citizenship.
Deaths by sex, age, year of birth and legal marital status;
Deaths by sex, age, year of birth and educational attainment (ISCED 2011);
Infant deaths by age and sex;
Infant deaths by mother's educational attainment (ISCED 2011) and father’s educational attainment (ISCED 2011);
Late foetal deaths by mother's age.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society and Amending Regulation (EU) No 2015/759 of 29 April 2015 as regards the violation of statistical confidentiality.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
For Germany, for the data on live births, disclosure of cells with less than 3 persons is not allowed.
For Türkiye, if the number of the statistical unit in any cell of the data table formed by aggregating the individual data is less than three or one or two of the statistical units are dominant even if the number of units is three or more, the data in the concerned cell is considered confidential.
8.1. Release calendar
Calendar (T is the reference year for the deaths data, respectively the year when the deaths occurred)
July of year T:
Total number of deaths in year T-1;
February, March of year T+1:
Deaths in year T-1 by
month;
detailed characteristics.
Mortality indicators of year T-1;
July of year T+1:
Total number of deaths in year T.
Notes:
The most up-to-date data on deaths are in the ''Demographic balance and crude rates (demo_gind)'' table in the online database. This table includes the latest updates (or revised data) on total population, births and deaths reported by the countries. The detailed breakdowns by various characteristics included in the rest of the tables can be sent to Eurostat at a later date.
There are a few situations in which different figures for deaths statistics might be displayed in different population tables at a given moment in time:
Timing of data sending/resending if the live births statistics based on various breakdowns are revised.
The order of the annual demography data collections described above, updating the total live births and the breakdowns of live births figures by various characteristics at differenttimes during the calendar year.
The calendar of the national statistical institutes for producing and releasing live births statistics broken down by characteristics that fall under voluntary data collection/when data are sent to Eurostat (timing).
8.2. Release calendar access
Not available.
8.3. Release policy - user access
In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.
The statistics on deaths are continuously revised according to the most recent data released and sent to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes. The geographical aggregates and the demographic indicators are revised accordingly.
The statistics are published in line with the information in 8.1 Release calendar and 17.1 Data revision-policy.
More information regarding methodology by country can be found in the national metadata files online in the population (national level) metadata (See "Related metadata").
See Annexes for the statistical working paper on the preliminary estimates of life expectancy.
The Art 11 of the Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 states that Commission shall also submit reports on its implementation, to the European Parliament and the Council as follows:
These reports are to evaluate quality of data transmitted by Member States and EFTA countries and data collection methods used and, if appropriate, should be accompanied by proposals designed for future improvement of legal framework for population and vital events statistics under this Regulation.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Statistics on deaths and demographic statistics in general are widely used for planning actions and for monitoring and evaluating programmes in a number of social and economic policy areas. These include:
Policies on families;
Evaluating the economic impact of demographic change;
Analysis of population ageing and its effects on sustainability and welfare;
Calculating 'per capita' indicators;
Determining the number of votes each Member State has in qualified majority voting in the Council, for EU decision-making.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No user satisfaction surveys are carried out.
12.3. Completeness
Data completeness depends on the availability of data from the national statistical institutes.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Not available.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
For information on the timeliness of data release, see 8.1Release calendar.
14.2. Punctuality
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
The recommended definition of the population, in line with the Regulation 1260/2013, is the 'usually resident population' and means all the persons having their usual residence in a Member State at the reference time. In accordance with this concept, the following persons are considered to be usually residents of the geographical area in question: those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference date or those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference date with the intention of staying there for at least one year. Where the circumstances described above cannot be established, 'usual residence' can be taken to mean the place of legal or registered residence.
According to Regulation 1260/2013, deaths statistics should refer to the same concept used for population statistics. If population is counted under the usual residence definition, then the deaths should be those originating from usually resident population. The metadata information sent by the countries confirms that deaths statistics are consistent in definition with the population from which they originate (see metadata on Population for comparison).
Classification of the deaths by residence
1. Usually Residence: BG, CZ, CY, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, ME, MT, PL, PT, RO, RS, SI, SK, UK.
2. Legal Residence: CH, LI.
3. Registered Residence: AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, ES, IS, ME, NL, NO, SE, TR.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Comparability over time could be disturbed by breaks in data series. The breaks in population series due to methodological, data processing changes or revisions in population counts reported by the countries are documented in Eurostat’s database with the flag b (break in series).
The population data for the year 2021 and after take into account the results of the latest population census (held in 2021–2022). Following Eurostat’s recommendations to ensure consistency of statistics over time, several Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal) have revised or are in process of revising their population time series between the reference years of the population and housing censuses held in 2011 and 2021. While this work is spread over time, revisions are mostly expected in the first quarter of 2024 (for more information about data revision per country, see also 17. Data revision).
Over time there have been geographical changes for certain countries, and changes in the methodology for producing population figures, as follows:
FX stands for Metropolitan France, including Corsica, excluding the overseas departments (DOM).
FR stands for the whole France, including the overseas departments (DOM). Data on Saint Barthelemey are excluded starting with 1 January 2012. Data on Mayotte are included starting with the statistics on vital events for the reference year 2014 and with the statistics on population on 1 January 2015.
The European geographical aggregates (EU, EA and EEA) include FX until 1997 and FR from 1998 on. This change is indicated by a flag b (break in time series) in the EU statistics for 1998.
The time series for Germany (DE_TOT) refer to the Federal Republic within its frontiers after 3 October 1990.
Starting with 1 January 1975, data for Cyprus (CY) refer to the government-controlled area.
Up to 1 January 2000, population data for Malta (MT) refer to the Maltese population only while, starting with 2001, figures include also foreign residents. This is indicated by a flag b in the figures for 2001.
Starting with 1 January 2010, the statistics on the permanent resident population of Switzerland (CH) includes all persons in the asylum process who have been residing in Switzerland since 12 months or more. The change appears in Eurostat population figures starting with population reported for 1 January 2011.
Starting with 1 January 2010, Poland (PL) revised the methodology used to estimate the usually resident population. This is indicated by a flag b in the figures for 2010.
Starting with 1 January 2011, Belgium (BE) population figures at national level refer to all registered persons including asylum seekers.
Starting with 1 January 2012, the reported Estonian (EE) population includes the migration component, whereas this was not included before.
Data for Georgia (GE) refer to the government-controlled area.
Data for Moldova (MD) refer to the government-controlled area.
Data for Ukraine (UA) exclude the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.
Member States shall inform the Eurostat of any planned revision of the data already supplied no later than one week before the release of the revised data in the Member State concerned.
Member States shall provide any revised data to the Eurostat no later than one week after the release of these data.
Member States shall ensure that any revised data provided to the Eurostat is consistent with the whole set of data already provided.
The policy of Eurostat is to make updates as soon as data is received and at any time during the year.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Deaths statistics are continuously revised according to the most recent data released and sent to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes. The geographical aggregates and the demographic indicators are revised accordingly.
The status of the data is indicated by using flags (p = provisional data; e = estimated; b = break in time series; f = forecast).
The revision practice effectively corresponds to the revision policy of the domain listed under sub‑concept 17.1 (data revision – policy).
All reported errors (once validated) result in corrections of the disseminated data.
Reported errors are corrected in the disseminated data as soon as the correct data have been validated.
Data may be published even if they are missing for certain countries or flagged as provisional or estimated for certain countries. They are replaced with final data once transmitted and validated. European aggregates and demographic indicators are updated for consistency with new country data.
Whenever new data are provided and validated, the already disseminated data are updated and European aggregates and demographic indicators are accordingly revised.
Data are usually revised for the last period. Countries however may choose the length of the revisions depending on the need. In principle, aggregates and components are revised at the same time or soon after a data revision is received by Eurostat. There are no routine revisions aiming at adjusting monthly time series of deaths to have temporal consistency with the yearly series. For most of the countries data are considered final with the first sending, except in case of errors discovered after transmitting data to Eurostat and in case of post-census revisions. Revisions are published continuously as soon as received by Eurostat. Routine revisions are documented and monitored internally and communicated in the metadata files available in dissemination.
The impact of major revisions is analysed in working documents produced for experts' meetings held with representatives of National Statistical Institutes. Time series breaks caused by major revisions are not flagged, to provide break-free data, back-calculation is applied.
Major revisions are pre-announced and documented in the metadata files available in dissemination. The impacts of major revisions are communicated in working documents produced for experts meetings held with representatives of National Statistical Institutes.
18.1. Source data
Data are collected by Eurostat from the national statistical institutes.
Data sources of deaths statistics declared by the NSIs:
AT: Civil Registry Offices. From 1 November 2014 onwards Central Civil Register.
BE: Belgian population register.
BG: Population register.
BY: Administrative data from death records filled in by civil registration authorities.
CH: Civil status registers.
CY: Civil Registry and Migration Department, Health Monitoring Unit (Ministry of Health).
CZ: Statistical reports on death provided to the CZSO by Registry Offices.
DE: Information not provided.
DK: Population register.
EE: Population Register and Estonian Causes of Death Registry.
EL: Administrative records (Death Certificates) provided by Registries from all around country.
ES: Medical Death Certificate/Statistical Death Bulletin.
FI: Population Information System of Population Register Centre.
FR: Civil status.
HR: Registers of deaths kept in registrars’ offices of every particular area.
HU: Civil registrars and health institutions.
IE: General Registration Office.
IS: Population register(s).
IT: Deregistration for death in the Municipal Population Registers (Anagrafi).
LI: Central Population Register.
LT: Central database of the Population Register managed by the State Enterprise Centre of Registers.
LU: Municipalities.
LV: Data from registers filled in by Civil Registry Offices.
ME: Register of deaths This data source is managed by the Ministry of Interiors.
MT: Administrative data.
NL: Population register.
NO: Central population register.
PL: Vital Statistics – administrative data.
PT: Administrative records provided by Civil Registration Offices/Ministry of Justice plus information provided by individuals at the time of death registration act.
RO: Administrative data source: Public Community Services for Persons Records within the City Halls of all localities.
RS: Registrars of deaths kept in registrars' offices of every particular area.
SE: The Total Population Register.
SI: National Institute of Public Health, Central Population Register.
SK: Exhaustive monthly survey covering all deaths of persons with permanent residence in the Slovak Republic. Statistical Report on Deaths (OBYV 3-12).
UK: Mortality statistics are based on the information collected when a death is registered.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data are collected annually.
18.3. Data collection
The annual data collections are carried out by Eurostat using data provided by the national statistical institutes in order to publish updated statistics. The demographic data collections contain both mandatory and voluntary data (see 3.1. Data description).
18.4. Data validation
Eurostat checks raw data sent by the national statistical offices to see if the total of a variable is consistent with the breakdown by different variables. It also does cross-checks to see if different breakdowns of the same variable are consistent.
Based on the detailed collected data, Eurostat calculates a series of demographic statistics. The demographic indicators calculated in the standard way are validated in the context of the available time series. The validation rules include checking the plausibility of the most up-to-date annual value and two consecutive annual values. Mathematical checks are carried out using standard deviations and the weighted average.
Based on the detailed national figures on population and other demographic events sent to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes, Eurostat derives/calculates demographic indicators and geographical aggregates using common calculation methods.
Geographical aggregation
For statistics on live births expressed in numbers, geographical aggregation is done by arithmetical sum if no values are missing from the components of the geographical aggregate in question. Otherwise the geographical aggregates are not calculated.
For mortality rates, the geographical aggregates are calculated using the same method as for an individual country. The input for calculation is the aggregated data described above.
Eurostat’s annual data collections on demographic statistics are structured as follows:
NOWCAST: Annual data collection on provisional monthly data on live births and deaths covering at least six months of the reference year (Article 4.3 of the Commission implementing regulation (EU) No 205/2014).
DEMOBAL (Demographic balance): Annual data collection on provisional data on population, total live births and total deaths at national level (Article 4.1 of the Commission implementing regulation (EU) No 205/2014).
POPSTAT (Population Statistics): The most in-depth annual national and regional demographic and migration data collection. The data relate to populations, births, deaths, immigrants, emigrants, marriages and divorces, and is broken down into several categories (Article 3 of Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and Article 3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007).
The aim is to collect annual mandatory and voluntary demographic data from the national statistical institutes. Mandatory data are those defined by the legislation listed under ‘6.1. Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’.
The completeness of the demographic data collected on a voluntary basis depends on the availability and completeness of information provided by the national statistical institutes. For more information on mandatory/voluntary data collection, see 6.1. Institutional mandate - legal acts and other agreements’.
The following statistics on deaths are collected from the National Statistical Institutes:
Deaths by month of occurrence
Deaths by age, year of birth, sex and by:
Region (NUTS 2) of residence;
Region (NUTS 3) of residence;
Country of birth;
Country of citizenship;
Legal marital status;
Educational attainment (ISCED 2011).
Infant deaths by age and sex;
Infant deaths by parents' level of educational attainment (ISCED);
Late foetal deaths by mother's age.
Statistics on mortality: based on the different breakdowns of data on deaths received, Eurostat produces the following:
Statistics available in the online table Population change - Demographic balance and crude rates at national level (demo_gind):
Natural change of population, crude death rate.
Statistics available in the online table Infant mortality rates (demo_find):
Infant mortality rate;
Neonatal mortality rate;
Early neonatal mortality rate;
Late foetal mortality rate;
Perinatal mortality rate.
Life table (demo_mlifetable);
Life expectancy by age and sex (demo_mlexpec);
Life expectancy by age, sex and educational attainment (ISCED 2011) (demo_mlexpecedu).
Death means the permanent disappearance of all evidence of life at any time after life birth has taken place (postnatal cessation of vital functions without capability of resuscitation).
Infant death means the death of a live-born infant who has not yet completed 1 year of life.
Foetal death means the death prior to the complete expulsion or extraction from its mother of a product of conception, irrespective of the duration of pregnancy, the death being indicated by the fact that after such separation the foetus does not breathe or show any other evidence of life, such as beating of the heart, pulsation of the umbilical cord or definite movement of voluntary muscles.
Late foetal death means foetal deaths of 28 weeks or more of completed weeks of gestation.
Stillbirth means the expulsion or extraction from the mother of a dead foetus after the time at which it would normally be presumed capable of independent extra uterine existence (commonly taken to be after 24 or 28 weeks of gestation). Infants who are born alive but die shortly after birth are excluded from this category.
Crude death rate: the ratio of the number of deaths during the year to the average population in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 population.
Infant mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under one year of age during the year to the number of live births in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 live births.
Early neonatal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under one week during the year to the number of live births in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 live births.
Late foetal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of still births during the year to the number of total births (live births + still births) in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 births.
Neonatal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under 28 days during the year to the number of live births in that year. The value is expressed per 1000 live births
Perinatal mortality rate: the ratio of the number of deaths of children under one week and the stillbirths during the year, to the number of births in that year (including still births). The value is expressed per 1000 births.
Life expectancy at certain ages represents the mean number of years still to be lived by a person who has reached a certain exact age, if subjected throughout the rest of his or her life to the current mortality conditions (age-specific probabilities of dying).
The Life table is one of the most important and most widely used devices in demography, summarizing various aspects of the variation of mortality with age and showing, for each age, the probability that a person of that age will die before their next birthday. One column of the table is "age" followed by columns that tabulate age-related functions pertaining to mortality: the numbers of survivors to various ages, deaths in particular age intervals, age specific death rates, probabilities of death in various age intervals, and life expectancy at given exact age. The methodology for the calculation of Life table can be consulted in "Annex" at the bottom of the page.
Age definition:
Most National Statistical Institutes of the EU Member States provide data on the number of deaths by two "age" related concepts: age at last birthday and year of birth. Deaths data are compiled and disseminated, based on the data collected, as follows:
by age completed (age at last birthday), and
by age reached during the year (reference year minus year of birth of the deceased person).
The availability of data on deaths by the two concepts among the countries starts at different moment of time series. Eurostat uses the concept of age completed when calculating mortality indicators.
The open-ended age class (Y_OPEN code in the AGE dimension in the online data tables) is a way of presenting different open-ended age classes for data on deaths by age provided by the countries. An open-ended age class contains all the people older than the last single age for which a country can provide data. For example, if a country can provide data on deaths by single year of age up to 94, the open-ended age class contains people aged 95 and over.
The statistical unit used is ''number'', as indicated in the online database or by the title of tables.
The statistical population is the total population. For more information on the population concepts used, please see the reference metadata on Population.
The deaths statistics are disseminated by single country, by region and by aggregates of countries, as follows:
Other countries: Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Monaco, Russian Federation, San Marino and United Kingdom.
The geographical aggregates: European Union and euro area (dissemination covers at least their current and previous form), the European Economic Area (EEA) and the EFTA.
For details on geographical changes that have taken place over time, see the notes by country under 15.2 Comparability over time.
National refers to the territory of a Member State within the meaning of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003, applicable at the reference time.
Regional refers to NUTS level 1, NUTS level 2 or NUTS level 3 as defined in Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 and according to the classification in force at the reference time. When this term is used in connection with countries that are not members of the European Union, 'regional' means the statistical regions at level 1, 2 or 3 as agreed between those countries and the Commission (Eurostat), at the reference time.
Statistics from the UK are available only until the withdrawal of the country from the EU.
The reference period for vital events data is the calendar year in which the events occurred. For the monthly time series the reference period is the month of occurrence.
Not available.
Data on deaths are disseminated as integer numbers and as rates.
Based on the detailed national figures on population and other demographic events sent to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes, Eurostat derives/calculates demographic indicators and geographical aggregates using common calculation methods.
Geographical aggregation
For statistics on live births expressed in numbers, geographical aggregation is done by arithmetical sum if no values are missing from the components of the geographical aggregate in question. Otherwise the geographical aggregates are not calculated.
For mortality rates, the geographical aggregates are calculated using the same method as for an individual country. The input for calculation is the aggregated data described above.
Data are collected by Eurostat from the national statistical institutes.
Data sources of deaths statistics declared by the NSIs:
AT: Civil Registry Offices. From 1 November 2014 onwards Central Civil Register.
BE: Belgian population register.
BG: Population register.
BY: Administrative data from death records filled in by civil registration authorities.
CH: Civil status registers.
CY: Civil Registry and Migration Department, Health Monitoring Unit (Ministry of Health).
CZ: Statistical reports on death provided to the CZSO by Registry Offices.
DE: Information not provided.
DK: Population register.
EE: Population Register and Estonian Causes of Death Registry.
EL: Administrative records (Death Certificates) provided by Registries from all around country.
ES: Medical Death Certificate/Statistical Death Bulletin.
FI: Population Information System of Population Register Centre.
FR: Civil status.
HR: Registers of deaths kept in registrars’ offices of every particular area.
HU: Civil registrars and health institutions.
IE: General Registration Office.
IS: Population register(s).
IT: Deregistration for death in the Municipal Population Registers (Anagrafi).
LI: Central Population Register.
LT: Central database of the Population Register managed by the State Enterprise Centre of Registers.
LU: Municipalities.
LV: Data from registers filled in by Civil Registry Offices.
ME: Register of deaths This data source is managed by the Ministry of Interiors.
MT: Administrative data.
NL: Population register.
NO: Central population register.
PL: Vital Statistics – administrative data.
PT: Administrative records provided by Civil Registration Offices/Ministry of Justice plus information provided by individuals at the time of death registration act.
RO: Administrative data source: Public Community Services for Persons Records within the City Halls of all localities.
RS: Registrars of deaths kept in registrars' offices of every particular area.
SE: The Total Population Register.
SI: National Institute of Public Health, Central Population Register.
SK: Exhaustive monthly survey covering all deaths of persons with permanent residence in the Slovak Republic. Statistical Report on Deaths (OBYV 3-12).
UK: Mortality statistics are based on the information collected when a death is registered.
The statistics on deaths are continuously revised according to the most recent data released and sent to Eurostat by the national statistical institutes. The geographical aggregates and the demographic indicators are revised accordingly.
The statistics are published in line with the information in 8.1 Release calendar and 17.1 Data revision-policy.
For information on the timeliness of data release, see 8.1Release calendar.
The recommended definition of the population, in line with the Regulation 1260/2013, is the 'usually resident population' and means all the persons having their usual residence in a Member State at the reference time. In accordance with this concept, the following persons are considered to be usually residents of the geographical area in question: those who have lived in their place of usual residence for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the reference date or those who arrived in their place of usual residence during the 12 months before the reference date with the intention of staying there for at least one year. Where the circumstances described above cannot be established, 'usual residence' can be taken to mean the place of legal or registered residence.
According to Regulation 1260/2013, deaths statistics should refer to the same concept used for population statistics. If population is counted under the usual residence definition, then the deaths should be those originating from usually resident population. The metadata information sent by the countries confirms that deaths statistics are consistent in definition with the population from which they originate (see metadata on Population for comparison).
Classification of the deaths by residence
1. Usually Residence: BG, CZ, CY, DE, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, ME, MT, PL, PT, RO, RS, SI, SK, UK.
2. Legal Residence: CH, LI.
3. Registered Residence: AT, BE, CZ, DE, DK, ES, IS, ME, NL, NO, SE, TR.
Comparability over time could be disturbed by breaks in data series. The breaks in population series due to methodological, data processing changes or revisions in population counts reported by the countries are documented in Eurostat’s database with the flag b (break in series).
The population data for the year 2021 and after take into account the results of the latest population census (held in 2021–2022). Following Eurostat’s recommendations to ensure consistency of statistics over time, several Member States (Bulgaria, Germany, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Portugal) have revised or are in process of revising their population time series between the reference years of the population and housing censuses held in 2011 and 2021. While this work is spread over time, revisions are mostly expected in the first quarter of 2024 (for more information about data revision per country, see also 17. Data revision).
Over time there have been geographical changes for certain countries, and changes in the methodology for producing population figures, as follows:
FX stands for Metropolitan France, including Corsica, excluding the overseas departments (DOM).
FR stands for the whole France, including the overseas departments (DOM). Data on Saint Barthelemey are excluded starting with 1 January 2012. Data on Mayotte are included starting with the statistics on vital events for the reference year 2014 and with the statistics on population on 1 January 2015.
The European geographical aggregates (EU, EA and EEA) include FX until 1997 and FR from 1998 on. This change is indicated by a flag b (break in time series) in the EU statistics for 1998.
The time series for Germany (DE_TOT) refer to the Federal Republic within its frontiers after 3 October 1990.
Starting with 1 January 1975, data for Cyprus (CY) refer to the government-controlled area.
Up to 1 January 2000, population data for Malta (MT) refer to the Maltese population only while, starting with 2001, figures include also foreign residents. This is indicated by a flag b in the figures for 2001.
Starting with 1 January 2010, the statistics on the permanent resident population of Switzerland (CH) includes all persons in the asylum process who have been residing in Switzerland since 12 months or more. The change appears in Eurostat population figures starting with population reported for 1 January 2011.
Starting with 1 January 2010, Poland (PL) revised the methodology used to estimate the usually resident population. This is indicated by a flag b in the figures for 2010.
Starting with 1 January 2011, Belgium (BE) population figures at national level refer to all registered persons including asylum seekers.
Starting with 1 January 2012, the reported Estonian (EE) population includes the migration component, whereas this was not included before.
Data for Georgia (GE) refer to the government-controlled area.
Data for Moldova (MD) refer to the government-controlled area.
Data for Ukraine (UA) exclude the illegally annexed Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol.
