A total of 59,000 people died in Slovakia in 2020, almost 5,500 (10.2 percent) more than the average for the previous five years and the highest figure since WWII, the Statistics Office announced on Wednesday, adding that this situation was significantly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
As compared to previous years, 15% more seniors aged 65 and over died in 2020 in Slovakia. The highest increase in the number of deaths was recorded in the Trenčín and Prešov regions. "In several regions, between 70 and 90 seniors (people older than 65) died per 1,000 inhabitants of this age group in December," the Statistics Office specified.
The pandemic year also contributed to a higher overall gross mortality rate in the country. It increased from 9.76 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in 2019 to 10.81 deaths per 1,000 inhabitants in 2020. "It is a significant increase over the course of one year. Usually the mortality rate changes by a maximum of a few tenths, while currently it was by more than one," said Zuzana Podmanická, director of the Department of Population Statistics of the Statistics Office of the Slovak Republic.
The higher mortality rate began to manifest in the autumn. It reached its most critical level in December, when more than 16 people died per 1,000 people in the country. By comparison, in December 2019 it was ten people per 1,000. The highest December mortality was in the Nitra region, the lowest in the Bratislava region.
