Excess mortality statistics

Data extracted on 5 September 2025

Planned article update: 16 December 2025

Highlights

Across the EU, excess mortality reached 3.5% in June 2025.

Excess mortality in Q2 2025 was higher than in Q2 2024, averaging 2.9% compared with 2.6% a year earlier.

Malta, Spain and Austria recorded the highest excess mortality rates in June 2025 (29.9%, 10.6% and 10.5% respectively), while Bulgaria (−8.8%), Lithuania (−8.6%), and Latvia (−7.8%) recorded the lowest.

This article presents an overview of the developments in excess mortality across the EU in Q2 2025, based on all-cause mortality data.

In this article, excess mortality refers to the number of deaths from all causes measured during a defined period, above that, which was observed in the baseline period. The baseline consists of the average number of deaths that occurred in each month during the period 2016-2019. The higher the value, the higher the number of additional deaths compared with the baseline. A negative indicator shows that fewer deaths occurred in a particular month compared with the baseline period.

This indicator, which is part of the European Statistical Monitor, provides a comprehensive comparison of additional deaths among the European countries. It provides a general measure of mortality because it includes all deaths regardless of their cause. For more information on the method used to calculate the indicator, see below under data sources.

Recent data on excess mortality in the EU

Excess mortality in the EU fluctuated between January 2024 and June 2025, reaching its highest levels in September and October 2024 (Figure 1). During the first half of 2025, mortality peaked in January at around 5.0%, before declining to 3.5% in June. In Q2 2025, excess mortality averaged 2.9%, slightly above the 2.6% recorded in the same quarter of 2024. The monthly pattern diverged from last year: April 2025 (2.5%) was well above April 2024 (0.1%), while May and June 2025 (2.6% and 3.5%) fell short of the corresponding 2024 figures (2.9% and 4.8%). The overall trend in Q2 2025 was a slight upward trend.

Figure 1

Across Q2 2025 31 056 excess deaths were registered: 9 283 in April, 9 598 in May, and 12 175 in June (Figure 2). This compares with 17 462 in Q2 2024, underlining a rise at European level. At national level, Germany (14 195), Spain (7 939), and France (7 591) recorded the largest numbers, while Romania (-4 068), Bulgaria (-2 284) and Hungary (-1 087) recorded the lowest figures, all below the expected mortality baseline.

Figure 2

Excess mortality by EU country

Excess mortality continued to vary between countries across the EU during Q2 2025 (Figure 3). Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Ireland, and Denmark consistently showed excess mortality, while Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Croatia, and Hungary reported fewer deaths compared with the baseline period.

In April 2025, the EU-wide excess mortality rate reached 2.5%. 8 EU countries recorded fewer deaths than in the baseline period, with the lowest rates in Latvia (-14.1%), Romania (-9.9%) and Bulgaria (-8.9%). The remaining 19 countries registered excess deaths, with the highest rates in Malta (20.1%), Finland (12.5%) and the Netherlands (10.8%).

In May, the EU-wide excess mortality rate was 2.6% (Figure 3). 7 countries recorded fewer deaths than in the baseline period, including Lithuania (-10.5%), Romania (-9.3%) and Bulgaria (-8.7%), while 20 countries registered excess deaths, with the highest rates in Finland (14.7%), Portugal (11.2%) and the Netherlands (11.1%).

In June, the excess mortality rate increased to 3.5% at EU level. 6 countries recorded fewer deaths than in the baseline period, notably Bulgaria (-8.8%), Lithuania (-8.6%) and Latvia (-7.8%), whereas 18 countries registered excess deaths, with the highest rates in Malta (29.9%), Spain (10.6%) and Austria (10.5%)(Figure 3).

Figure 3

Recent data on weekly deaths in the EU

In Q2 2025, about 1.2 million deaths were recorded in the EU, compared with around 1.0 million in the same period in 2024 and over 1.3 million deaths in Q1 2025. Weekly deaths gradually decreased from 92 380 in week 14 to 87 663 in week 18 and varied between 84 000 and 87 000 deaths per week between weeks 19 and 23. The lowest numbers of weekly deaths were observed in weeks 24 and 25, with 83 463 and 83 205 deaths respectively, followed by 84 900 deaths in week 26. Deaths were above the 2016–2019 baseline in all weeks of Q2 2025 (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Further releases

Starting from the data reference period of January 2025, this article and the related indicator will be updated quarterly, with Q3 2025 scheduled for publication by mid-December 2025.

For additional information on the COVID-19 pandemic see Deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source data for graphs

The data displayed in these visualisations come from 2 Eurostat datasets reflecting the data situation at that moment in time:

Information on data reliability, series breaks, and differing definitions, flags can be consulted in the online datasets.

Data sources

The excess mortality indicator takes the number of deaths from any cause in a given period and compares it with a historical baseline from previous years in a period that was not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this case, the baseline consists of the average number of deaths that occurred in each month during the period 2016-2019. The European Union (EU) average baseline for 2016-2019 was not adjusted for age-specific mortality rates or increasing life expectancy. The indicator is expressed as the percentage of additional deaths compared with the baseline period (2016-2019). A negative percentage indicates that there were fewer deaths than might be expected in a particular month compared with the baseline period. The excess mortality indicator, covering EU and EFTA countries, is based on weekly death data transmitted to Eurostat by EU countries on a voluntary basis since April 2020. Data are classified by sex, 5-year age groups and NUTS regions, and are continuously updated with more recent weeks of mortality statistics. These weekly data are then attributed pro-rata to months to compute the excess mortality indicator. For the excess mortality indicator, the death figures for the latest weeks available in a Member State are corrected for incompleteness. Data remain provisional and subject to revision with the next releases.

All 27 EU countries provided weekly mortality data. Data received from EFTA and neighboring countries are not present in this article. The EU aggregate for the second quarter 2025 was estimated using the most recent available data. The mortality indicator is unavailable for the last week of June for the Netherlands, Romania and Slovakia.

Data for several countries were recalculated from 2024 onwards by applying the new coefficients of data completeness transmitted by the National Statistical Institutes in May 2025. For more information about Methodology, please consult Excess Mortality Metadata [1].

The excess mortality indicator does not distinguish between the causes of death and did not differentiate between sex and age class. For more information on causes of death statistics, please see Causes of death - monthly statistics and Causes of death statistics. During the COVID-19 pandemic, excess death statistics revealed the mortality burden potentially linked to the pandemic, encompassing not only direct virus-related deaths, but also indirect deaths. This measure included undiagnosed and unreported COVID-19 deaths as well as deaths from other causes influenced by the overall crisis. It also accounted for the reduction in deaths from other causes, such as accidents that did not occur due to restrictions on commuting or travel during lockdown periods. In the post-pandemic period, the indicator captures the effects of heat waves during summer and influenza during winter.

Context

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered tremendous interest in statistics. Hence, in April 2020, in cooperation with the National Statistical Institutes of the European Statistical System, Eurostat set up a special data collection on weekly deaths, to support the policy and research efforts related to the pandemic. The National Statistical Institutes regularly and voluntarily transmit data to Eurostat on weekly deaths up to the latest available week. 'Excess mortality' has been identified as the most useful indicator for assessing additional deaths, complementing the other indicators contained in the European Statistical Monitor. To capture the dynamics of mortality changes in a stable way, the excess mortality indicator is calculated for each month (depending on data available to Eurostat from the National Statistical Institutes). Starting from 2025, the frequency of the weekly deaths data collection was moved to quarterly basis and the monthly excess mortality indicator is then updated quarterly.

Explore further

Database

Mortality (DEMO_MEXRT), see:

Excess mortality - monthly data (demo_mexrt)

Mortality (demomwk), see:

Weekly deaths - special data collection (demomwk)

Thematic section

Methodology

Excess mortality (ESMS metadata file — demo_mexrt)

Visualisation

Data Browser (Excess mortality line chart) - select geopolitical entity and time
Data Browser (Excess mortality bar chart) - select time