Press Release 19/05/2021

DEATH STATISTICS. IV/2020

The number of deaths exceeded 24,000 in 2020, up 12.4% on the previous year

The official figures on deaths due to COVID-19 reached 3,052 in 2020, 12.6% of the total

Total provisional data for 2020 places the number of deaths at 24,237, of which 3,052, or 12.6% of the total, were due to COVID-19, according to official data prepared by Eustat. Of total deaths, 12,186 were women and 12,051 were men. Compared to 2019, there was a 12.4% increase in the number of deaths in the Basque Country as a whole. By province, the increase in deaths was 19.3% in Álava, 12.7% in Gipuzkoa and 10.7% in Bizkaia.

Amongst the deaths that occurred last year, 39 corresponded to children under one year of age. This was lower than in 2019, when 43 children under one year of age died. On the other hand, 332 people died at the age of 100 or over, 26 more than in 2019.

With provisional data from 2020, population growth in the Basque Country was negative for another year running, although to a lesser extent than in 2019, with deaths exceeding births by 9,516 individuals. By province, for this reason the population decreased by 5,933 inhabitants in Bizkaia, 2,716 in Gipuzkoa and 867 in Álava.

In 2020 overall, there were 3,052 deaths where COVID-19 was the main cause, 12.6% of the total. These deaths were classified into 2 groups: deaths due to COVID-19 confirmed by a specific analysis, of which there were 2,738, or deaths probably due to COVID-19, which were cases not confirmed by analysis but where COVID-19 was the main cause of death on the medical report, of which there were 314.

74.5% of these deaths occurred in Basque hospitals, followed by residential care homes (21.3%).

There were 972 deaths due to COVID-19 in the fourth quarter of 2020, 31.8% of the total for the year

In the fourth quarter of 2020 the number of deaths in the Basque Country stood at 6,281, 13.8% up on the same period of the previous year. In the first quarter there were 761 more deaths compared to the same quarter of the previous year and 1,024 more than the average for the previous 10 years.

By province, Gipuzkoa had the highest, with a 23.2% rise in deaths compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In Álava the increase was 11.3% and in Bizkaia it was 8.9%. By sex, 3,197 men and 3,084 women died, which was an increase of 16.1% for men and 11.5% for women. Amongst the deaths that occurred in this fourth quarter, 11 corresponded to children under 1 year of age and 83 to centenarians.

The main causes of death were tumours and circulatory system diseases, which caused the deaths of 1,577 and 1,487 individuals, respectively, which means that together they accounted for 48.8% of deaths. As a third cause of death was COVID-19, with 972 cases (15.5%).

Deaths caused by respiratory diseases fell by 42% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. There were 271 deaths as a result of digestive diseases, 5.9% up 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 (30.3%) and diseases of the circulatory system were the second (21.1%); among women, the opposite occurred: diseases of the circulatory system (26.3%) were the main cause of death, whereas tumours (19.7%) were the second.

In the fourth quarter, there were 972 deaths with COVID-19 as the main cause, 15.5% of the total. Of these, 941 were confirmed to be due to COVID-19 and in 31 cases COVID-19 was the probable cause. There were a further 66 deaths in which COVID-19 was among the certified causes of death, but without being the main cause.

By province, the highest figure of deaths due to COVID-19 corresponded to Gipuzkoa, with 430, followed by Bizkaia with 416 and Álava with 126. As regards the capitals, Bilbao stands out with 166 deaths caused by COVID-19, followed by San Sebastián with 145 and Vitoria-Gasteiz with 108. Barakaldo, Irun and Getxo also stood out, with more than 25 deaths in each municipality.

The number of deaths of men (518) exceeded that of women (454), while in terms of age, it is worth noting that 97.1% of the deaths caused by COVID-19 occurred among those over 60 years of age and 72.2% among people aged over 80.

The number of deaths due to COVID-19 (972 cases) was more than double the number of deaths due to the same cause in the third quarter (365 cases).

The majority of these deaths occurred in Basque hospitals (83.1%), followed by residential care homes (9.9%).

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