Press Release 14/02/2022

DEATH STATISTICS. III/2021

There was a 2.7% rise in deaths in the Basque Country in the third quarter of 2021

Deaths due to COVID-19 were down by 22.7%

In the third quarter of 2021 the number of deaths in the Basque Country stood at 5,515, 2.7% more than the same period of the previous year, according to Eustat data. In the first quarter there were 147 more deaths compared to the same quarter of the previous year and 762 more than the average for the previous 10 years.

In Bizkaia and Gipuzkoa there were rises in deaths of 4.3% and 2.7%, respectively; in contrast, in Álava they decreased by 3.6%. By sex, 2,791 men and 2,724 women died, which was an increase of 3.5% for men and 2% for women.

Amongst the deaths that occurred in this quarter, 11 corresponded to children under 1 year of age and 73 to centenarians.

The main causes of death were tumours and circulatory system diseases, which caused the deaths of 1,601 and 1,349 individuals, respectively, which means that together they accounted for 53.5% of deaths. As a third cause of death were diseases of the nervous system, accounting for 351 deaths (6.4%), with diseases affecting the respiratory system as the fourth cause, with 335 cases (6.1%) .

The causes of the deaths still varied according to gender: among men, tumours were the leading cause of death (34%) and diseases of the circulatory system were the second (23.3%); among women, the opposite occurred: diseases of the circulatory system (25.6%) were the main cause of death, whereas tumours (23.9%) were the second.

Population growth in the Basque Country in the third quarter of 2021 was negative, with a population decrease of 1,732. The population decreased in the three provinces: by 1,173 people in Bizkaia, 494 in Gipuzkoa and 65 in Álava.

There were 276 deaths as a result of COVID-19 in the third quarter of 2021

In the third quarter, 276 deaths were caused by COVID-19, equal to 5% of the total, and 81 fewer than the same quarter of the previous year. They are classified into 2 groups: 272 confirmed COVID-19 deaths and 4 probable COVID-19 deaths; there were a further 35 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 176, followed by Gipuzkoa with 74 and Álava with 26. As regards the capitals, Bilbao stands out with 62 deaths caused by COVID-19, followed by Vitoria-Gasteiz with 19 and San Sebastián with 15. Irun and Getxo also stood out, with 15 deaths each.

The number of deaths of women (139) exceeded that of men (137), while in terms of age, it is worth noting that 67% of the deaths caused by COVID-19 occurred among those over 80 and 17.4% among people aged between 70 and 79.

The majority of these deaths occurred in Basque hospitals (86.2%), followed by residential care homes (9.1%) and at home (4%).

In the first nine months of 2021 overall, there were a total of 1,405 deaths due to COVID -19, 708 fewer deaths than the same period of the previous year. Amongst these, 1,374 were confirmed by a specific analysis, while 31 were diagnosed as likely cases of COVID-19. The majority of these deaths occurred in the months of January (358) and February (325), with June and July the periods in which there were the fewest deaths for this reason, 44 and 42, respectively.

It should be pointed out that COVID-19 was present in a further 128 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.

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