Portugal breaks mortality record – Sociedade

PORTUGAL

In June, Portugal was the country in Europe with the highest excess mortality rate: there were 23.9% more deaths compared to the average for the same month in the 2016-2019 period. The European Union average is 6.2%.

Analyzing data from the ‘Mortality Surveillance’ portal, from the Directorate-General for Health, it appears that from 2016 to 2019, in June, 33,102 people died in Portugal (daily average of 276 deaths). In June this year, there were 10,217 deaths (average of 341 per day). According to Eurostat, it was the fifth consecutive month in which Portugal recorded an increase in deaths compared to the average of recent years.

But July should make the Portuguese situation even worse: there were 10,736 deaths (average of 346 per day), much higher than the average for the months of July 2016 to 2019 (266 deaths/day, out of a total of 32,929). In other words, in the past, an excess of mortality of 30% in our country was selected. In total, in these two months there will be 40 people, 443 more than 443 in the same months from 2016 to 2019 (2016 more in June and 280 more in July).

Since the beginning of the year, Tuesday, 79,536 deaths have been registered in Portugal, up to 1,326 less than in the same period in 2021. However, if you exclude Covid-19 deaths (10,592 last year, 5,781) this year), there is an increase of 3485 deaths this year in 2021 – an increase of almost 5 percent. By age groups, there is an increase in the mortality of people aged 85 and over, but there are fewer deaths of people between 65 and 84 years old.

The deaths of babies under the age of one it appeared – from 107 to 142 this year. The Ministry of Health on mortality, conceived by Marta Temido, has been carrying out a “deep study” for days on excess mortality, namely “those that coincide with the greatest intensity of Covid-19 and heat”. However, between February and April, without heat waves, there were 2687 more non-Covid deaths than in the same period of 2021.

A fifth of deaths are registered in only ten concepts in the country
Of the total number of deaths this year, 22% (18,239) are concentrated in ten municipalities. Lisbon (4545), Sintra (2113) and VN Gaia (1965) are the municipalities with the most deaths. Porto, Cascais, Almada, Loures, Oeiras, Amadora and Matosinhos follow.

The first week of February was the deadliest this year
The fifth week of 2022 (from January 31 to February 6) was so far the deadliest of the year in Portugal: these seven days recorded 2883 deaths, 355 of which due to Covid-19, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Directorate-General for Health.