Press Release 16/11/2020

DEATH STATISTICS. II/2020

Deaths increased by 19.5% in the second quarter of 2020 in the Basque Country due to COVID-19

This was an increase of 24.2% compared to the average for the last 10 years

In the second quarter of 2020 the number of deaths in the Basque Country stood at 6,054, 19.5% more than the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. In the first quarter there were 987 more deaths compared to the same quarter of the previous year and 1,178 more than the average for the previous 10 years.

In Bizkaia, the increase reached 20.9%, while it was 19.1% in Álava and 16.9% in Gipuzkoa. By sex, 2,910 men and 3,144 women died, which was an increase of 13.2% for men and 26% for women.

Amongst the deaths that occurred in this first quarter, 7 corresponded to children under 1 year of age and 90 to centenarians.

The main causes of death were tumours and circulatory system diseases, which caused the deaths of 1,457 and 1,284 individuals, respectively, which means that together they accounted for 45.3% of deaths. As a third cause of death was COVID-19, with 1,218 cases (20.1%).

Deaths caused by respiratory diseases fell by 35.9% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Deaths due to diseases of the nervous system totalled 349, which was a drop of 1.7% compared to the same quarter of the previous year and of 11.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2019. There were 227 deaths as a result of digestive diseases, 2.6% down on the same period of the previous year.

The causes of the deaths still varied according to gender: among men, tumours were the leading cause of death (29.5%) and, among women, it was diseases of the circulatory system (22.5%). The latter were the second cause (19.8%) for men, while for women it was COVID-19 (21%).

Population growth in the Basque Country in the first quarter of 2020 was negative, with a population decrease of 2,470. The population decreased in the three provinces: by 1,698 people in Bizkaia, 577 in Gipuzkoa and 195 in Álava.

There were 1,218 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the second quarter of 2020

In the second quarter of 2020, 1,218 deaths were caused by COVID-19, equal to 20.1% of the total. They fall into 2 groups: 1,034 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 184 probable COVID-19 deaths; there were a further 160 deaths in which COVID-19 was among the certified causes of death, but without being the main cause.

By province, the highest figure corresponded to Bizkaia, with 741, followed by Gipuzkoa with 263 and Álava with 214. As regards the capitals, Bilbao stands out with 287 deaths caused by COVID-19, followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz with 175 and Donostia/San Sebastián with 55. Barakaldo also stood out, with 88 deaths.

The number deaths of women (662) exceeded that of men (556), while in terms of age, it is worth noting that 75.4% of the deaths caused by COVID-19 occurred among those over 80 years of age and 22.3% among people aged between 60 and 80.

The majority of these deaths occurred in Basque hospitals (55.1%), followed by residential care homes (38.9%), at home (4.2%) or other locations (1.8%).

In the first six months of 2020 overall, there were a total of 1,720 deaths due to COVID-19. Of these, 1,463 were confirmed by a specific analysis, while 257 were diagnosed as likely cases of COVID-19. Most of these deaths occurred in the months of March (502) and April (1,048), falling to 147 in May and almost disappearing in June (23).

It should be pointed out that COVID-19 was present in a further 206 individuals who died in these same months, but it was not the main cause of death according to the death certificates and applying the World Health Organisation criteria for coding causes of death.

Methodological note: Death records of residents included in the civil registers of the Basque Country and elsewhere were used, provided that they were residents.

For further information:

Eustat - Euskal Estatistika Erakundea / Basque Statistics Institute C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz Press service: servicioprensa@eustat.es Tel: 945 01 75 62