More than 450,000 excess deaths* were recorded in the European Union between March and November 2020 compared to the average for the years 2016 to 2019 during the same period, according to new data published by Eurostat.
The number of deaths in EU countries began to increase in the spring of 2020, during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The peak of excess mortality in the EU member states was reached in November 2020, when a second, more deadly wave of coronavirus hit many countries.
Overall, this excess mortality in the EU was 8% higher than average in September, 17% in October, and 40% in November, although it decreased between May and July as countries managed to contain the spread of Covid-19. But in some regions of Europe, Eurostat data shows that the number of deaths was much higher than the average mortality in previous years.
Although the data does not allow for isolating the cause of death, the excess mortality is largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It has killed more than 495,000 people in EU and European Economic Area countries (as of mid-February 2021), according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
