Stat data shows real death rate of pandemic: Eurostat

Preliminary data from 24 European countries show that there were around 160,000 more deaths from March to May 2020 than the average number of deaths during the same period in 2016 to 2019. What’s more, in the weeks 12 to 16 (mid March to mid April) in 2020, there were 56 percent of more deaths for men aged 70+ and 44 percent more for women aged 70+ in Europe (data for 23 countries) compared with the same period in average in 2016 to 2019.

The steepest increase in the number of deaths is in Spain, which by week 14 sees the number of weekly deaths in 2020 represent more than the double of the deaths recorded in the same week of the previous years. With week 14, France and Switzerland mark as well the moment from where deaths began to drop. For other countries, like Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden and Portugal, the peak of the deaths increase in 2020 is reached in week 15 (6-12 April). For Belgium, the highest point represented more than the double of the deaths in 2016-2019. There are countries where the rise and fall in mortality do not follow a bell shape. In some countries (including Poland) the pattern is less regular and the differences with the previous years are less pronounced. 

(Eurostat)