An unprecedented context of health crisis

The "The Demography of COVID-19 Deaths” data are published under a CC BY 4.0 License.

Comprehensive description of this database can be found in DOI: 10.1038/s41597-022-01191-y.

Users are advised that the database will no longer be updated as of April 25, 2022.
However, the data will still be available to users and work will be undertaken to ensure that access to the "Demography of Covid-19 deaths" database will be preserved.
If you have any questions related to the stop of the database updates, do not hesitate to contact us at: eo-dc-covid@listes.ined.fr

Measuring the magnitude of the crisis

In the context of this unprecedented health crisis, an important objective is to be able to monitor the development of the pandemic. Many countries have made available daily counts of deaths by COVID-19. To go further, demography has the tools to assess coverage and comparability of data across countries for accurate trend analysis.

A succession of waves - Standardised Death Rates (SDR)

See graphs 

See graphs by country

See graphs 

Countries are seeking the best and "almost-immediate" coverage for deaths attributable to COVID-19. But the collections, carried out through specific observation systems, have different coverage. Three key elements are likely to have an impact on the country counts and thus play on the differences observed: the place of death (home, institutions for the elderly, hospitals); the lag of data transmission to the national system; and the identification of the cause of death (metadata).

On this site, data are provided for countries in Europe and beyond (see section "Data & Metadata). These data are taken from the official statistics provided daily by the countries. We endeavour to:

• Qualify the data source used. In order to carry out reliable comparative analyses between countries, this site documents how the data were collected and the fields covered (total deaths, deaths occurring in hospital only), as well as their dates. A distinction must be made between date of death, administrative or health declaration and publication in public reports. Each day, the cumulative number of deaths by COVID-19 increases by the number of deaths occurring on the previous days for which the information was published that day.
• Provide details by sex and age. Due to the greater vulnerability of older people and men to COVID-19, significant differences in population structures from one country to another affect the number of deaths. Where possible, we provide detailed data. They can sometimes cover different fields (deaths in hospital, in any places...).

We invite readers to refer to the explanatory notes made available for each country (Data & Metadata). The increased coverage of data collection allows a better understanding of the dynamics as the weeks go by. he datasets, their potential and specificities are presented through different examples (Key Issues).

• Operational team: Magali Barbieri, Florian Bonnet, Carlo Giovanni Camarda, Emmanuelle Cambois, Arianna Caporali, Étienne Couppié, Jenny Garcia, François  Herrmann, Iris Hourani, France Meslé, Olga Penina, Svitlana Poniakina, Jean-Marie Robine, Catalina Torres
• Editorial board: Magda Tomasini, Cris Beauchemin, Carlo Giovanni Camarda, Emmanuelle Cambois, Arianna Caporali, Mathilde Charpentier, Aline Désesquelles, Jenny Garcia, Myriam Khlat, France Meslé, Gilles Pison, Jean-Marie Robine, Xavier Thierry et Laurent Toulemon