EU excess mortality continued to rise in April 2023

In April 2023, excess mortality in the EU rose compared with the previous month and stood at +2.7% above the baseline (average number of deaths for the same period in 2016-2019). This increase was more noticeable than in March 2023, when excess mortality was just slightly above the baseline at +0.6%. 

In March and April 2023, the mortality rate has returned to levels more in line with the rest of the COVID-19 pandemic period. This follows exceptionally low mortality in February 2023, when there was no excess mortality for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic – the indicator dipped to -1.5%. 

For context, the excess mortality rate was 12.0% in April 2022 (40 200 excess deaths), 20.9% in April 2021 (73 600 excess deaths), and 25.2% in April 2020 (105 000 excess deaths). Alongside the peaks recorded in April 2020 and 2021, there were peaks in November 2020 (+40.0%, 140 000 excess deaths) and November 2021 (+26.6%, 94 000 excess deaths).

This information comes from data on excess mortality published by Eurostat today, based on weekly deaths data collection. The article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained articles on excess mortality and weekly deaths.

Source dataset: demo_mexrt

In April 2023, 17 EU countries recorded excess deaths. Among those, Austria (13.2%), Finland (12.4%), Luxembourg (12.3%) and Ireland (12.2%) recorded the highest excess mortality rates. 
Among the countries that did not observe excess deaths, Romania (-12.2%), Bulgaria (-8.7%) and Lithuania (-7.7%) recorded the lowest rates. 

How did the situation evolve in your country?

Although excess mortality was observed during most of the past three years across Europe, the peaks and intensity of outbreaks varied greatly between countries. For further analysis, you can read the Statistics Explained article on excess mortality and use the interactive tool by selecting the country you would like to analyse.