Despite the rising omicron wave, the total number of deaths has reached the pre-pandemic level in the SR
In January 2022, the total excess mortality significantly decreased month-on-month. It declined to the level of 4%, while at the end of 2021, it was close to almost 44%. Six regions have already reached the level of previous years in terms of the number of deaths; only in the Trnavský kraj and Trenčiansky kraj continued slightly higher excess mortality. In January, 573 people succumbed to COVID-19 infection.
In Slovakia, more than 5.3 thousand people died in January 2022, i.e. the lowest numbers since September 2021 despite the rising omicron wave. The total excess mortality1) also signficantly dropped in the SR; in the first month, the current number of deaths was only by 4% higher than the 5-year average of January before the pandemic (2016 - 2020). The situation in the number of deaths is thus beginning to stabilize and the values are similar to those before the onset of the pandemic.
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, the SO SR has compared the number of deaths with the average of the previous five years. We compare the current situation in January 2022 with the average of the last five years before the pandemic, i.e. for the years 2016 to 2020*.
This year in January, there are significantly fewer deaths than in January 2021, when the worst mortality situation was recorded since the outbreak of the pandemic. At that time, the excess mortality1) reached more than 76%, when more than 9,000 people died in one month. In January 2021, the extreme number of deaths would also significantly affect the average for the previous 5 years (2017 - 2021) and the current mortality values were thus below the average. For an objective answer to the question to what extent the current mortality rate is worse than in the times before the pandemic, the SO SR compares the number of deaths in January 2022 with the average for the years 2016 - 2020.
„In January 2022, more than 2,000 fewer people died compared with the previous two months and by 41% less than a year ago in Slovakia. The current number of deaths in January is only by 203 persons higher than the average in the same month in the years before the outbreak of the pandemic," said Zuzana Podmanická, Director of the Population Statistics of the Statistical Office of the SR.
The Statistical Office of the SR has currently published preliminary data on the number of deaths in January 2022. Definitive data for the whole year 2021 will be published in March 2022.
The differences between the regions are minimal
The excess mortality, i.e. higher number of deaths than the average of values in January in the previous five years before the pandemic1) was more reflected only in two regions. The worst situation was in Trenčiansky kraj, where by 16% more people died than the average, and in Trnavský kraj with almost 13% excess mortality. In four regions, the situation approached the value of the 5-year average before the pandemic, and in Bratislavský kraj and Banskobystrický kraj has currently died fewer people than in the previous five years before the pandemic1). During the first month of this year, Nitriansky kraj recorded the highest absolute number of deaths (746 persons), which is the fourth smallest region in the SR in terms of population.
"In January 2022 compared to December 2021, the most significant improvement in the situation was recorded in Banskobystrický kraj and Košický kraj, in which the excess mortality reached around 50 % in the last month of last year. They are currently approaching pre-pandemic values. It is good to see that there has been a significant decrease in an intensity of the excess mortality in all regions of Slovakia," added Z. Podmanická.
COVID-19 dropped in the ranking of the most common causes of death
In January, a total of 573 people died as a result of the COVID-19 infection, which comprised almost 11% of all deaths. In a record January 2021, a COVID-19 infection killed more than 3.4 thousand people. Thus the current number of deaths reach one sixth of last year's value. While in January last year, COVID-19 infection was the most common cause of death2) in the SR, this year it dropped to fourth place during the first month.
At the regional level, the coronavirus had the largest share of causes of death in Trenčiansky kraj (19.5%), of which one out of five died from COVID-19 in the SR. On the contrary, the virus in Košický kraj had the lowest share of all causes of death (7.1%).
In the first month of this year, most people died of circulatory system diseases (42% of deaths) and tumors (20%). These two groups of diseases have long been among the most common causes of death2). In January 2022, more than 10% fewer people died of both causes than the 5-year average of the previous years before the pandemic. The first three most common causes of death are supplemented by deaths due to respiratory diseases with a share of 11%. This cause has been higher for several consecutive months than the 5-year average of previous years before the pandemic1).
Data on mortality and causes of death can be found at www.statistics.sk in the DATAcube. database of the Statistical Office of the SR.:
- Preliminary monthly data -
Deaths by month of death, age, sex and cause death - SR-oblast-kraj"(monthly)[om3801mr].
Numbers of deaths and causes of death in the SR according to 22 groups of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by months (including COVID-19). The data cube contains regional structures (regions, SR), age structures (pre-productive, productive and post-productive age, as well as age groups after 5 years). Monthly data for 2021 are preliminary, definitive monthly data on the number of deaths will be available in the first quarter of 2022. - Preliminary weekly data - Deaths by age groups and sex
- SR-oblast-kraj (weekly) [om3003tr].
The table contains structures by 5-year age groups as well as regional structures / regions. The data are reported to Eurostat. EUROSTAT releases the most recent mortality data in Europe on a weekly basis in the table: Deaths by week.
Weekly data for 2021 are preliminary, definitive weekly data on the number of deaths will be available in the first quarter of 2022. Weekly data are not identical with the monthly data (some weeks fall within two months). - Definitive data for the year are always available after the end of the calendar year, data for 2021 will be released
in the 2nd quarter of 2022 on www.statistics.sk.
Data on the number of deaths
The Statistical Office of the SR is responsible for processing data on mortality as a demographic phenomenon within the natural reproduction of the population of the SR at the national and international level.
The causes of death are also part of mortality statistics. Statistical data on the causes of death are analyzed by specialists of the Statistical Office of the SR together with experts of the Health Care Surveillance Authority in the context of diagnoses of diseases that affected the deceased. Due to a specific approach to the processing of data on deaths from COVID-19 and in order to know the real effects of this disease on society, special attention is paid to all deaths that symptoms and consequences are similar to COVID-19. After a thorough analysis, preliminary data on the causes of death are revised in cooperation with medical experts.
The difference between preliminary and definitive data exists in all statistical areas, revision of the data is the standard procedure. This is the case with the most statistical outputs, including statistics on deaths and their causes across the EU.
The data on the number of deaths, which are currently released daily by the National Health Information Centre (NHIC) and the Ministry of Health of the SR on korona.gov.sk, are the first preliminary data, as they are gradually reported from all regions. Later, deaths are processed exactly according to the date of death to the relevant day, month and also according to the causes of deaths, while the causes of deaths are analyzed and revised, if necessary. Deaths from COVID-19, which are presented by the SO SR, represent cases in which COVID-19 was the main cause of death, i.e. they relates to deaths " from COVID", not deaths "with COVID".
Statistical data on deaths are processed by the SO SR from the received forms "Death certificate and statistical report of death", which contains basic data on deaths, including diagnosis according to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD - 10) listed as the main cause of death. After the end of each month, the SO SR provides the forms to about one thousand registration offices in the SR, which collect data on deaths from almost 3,000 towns and municipalities in the SR. The form "Death certificate and statistical report of death" is completed by the supervising doctor. The SO SR is the data processor, it does not affect the data stated in the form.
Regional structures recorded the deceased by place of permanent residence (not the place where he / she died).
The final results on the number of people died of a specific disease (the main cause of death) are released by the Statistical Office of the SR after the end of the reference year in March of the following year.
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