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In terms of the number of people who died in Poland, last year was the darkest since the end of World War II. Unfortunately, it also turns out that, compared to other European countries, we ended the year with the highest excess deaths. This was shown in a report prepared by the British Office for National Statistics. Get to know the details.
- In 2020, over 485 people died in Poland. people
- The total number of births last year was 355. This means that in 2020 the population in Poland decreased by approximately 130.
- There is also another gloomy indicator. Poland ended 2020 with the highest number of excess deaths. Details are presented in the graphic in the text
- The (subjective) report of Dr. Basiukiewicz Fri «Not a single tear. Healthcare in a pandemic »
- More current information can be found on the Onet homepage.
Excess deaths – what does it mean? Main assumptions of the report
The COVID-19 pandemic caused 2020 to bring about an unprecedented number of deaths. As for Poland, at the beginning of January we knew that these months were the worst since the end of World War II. In less than 53 weeks of 2020, more than 485 died. people, including over 28,5 thousand. due to or with the involvement of COVID-19.
Worse still, compared to other European countries, Poland ended this pandemic year with the largest number of excess deaths. This is one of the conclusions of the report prepared by the Office for National Statistics, the British government agency responsible for collecting and sharing statistical information, as well as the UK population census.
- Record number of deaths in Poland in 2020. Most since World War II
Before we go into the details of the report, let’s explain what excess deaths (excessive mortality) are. This concept means the number of deaths during the crisis, which is above the level of previous years. Thus, they are not only people who died due to COVID-19, but also victims of complications in chronic diseases, insufficient health care or difficult access to specialists and a lack of diagnosis. The authors of the report refer to this, emphasizing that their analysis does not focus on deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infection, but presents mortality from “all causes”. “This allows us to study the impact of the pandemic not only on COVID-19 deaths, but also on the excess number of deaths that resulted from the virus’s broader impact on healthcare systems and society,” they explain.
The analyzed countries are: Armenia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Great Britain, Montenegro, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia , Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Switzerland, Serbia, Albania and Georgia. Data on mortality and population in the respective countries were obtained from, inter alia, databases of Eurostat – the European Statistical Office. The years 2015–2019 were the comparative period.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. Comparison of spring and autumn, the situation of Poland
Looking at the death statistics of the countries included in the report, we can see that in Western European countries, the highest excess mortality rate was in spring 2020. In Central and Eastern European countries it was in the fall and early winter (Western European countries were still experiencing excessive mortality at this time, but at a lower level than in spring).
The situation for individual countries is illustrated in the charts below. The navy blue line means deaths in all age categories, the green line – those who died below 65 years of age. The dashed line at 0 means that the mortality rate over the period was equal to the 2015–2019 average. A positive value indicates worse than average mortality, and a negative value indicates better than average mortality.
As you can see, in the fall, the highest weekly increase in the number of excess deaths (all age categories) was recorded in Bulgaria (the week ending November 27) – it amounted to 112,3%, followed by Poland. If we consider the whole of 2020, the biggest jump in the number of excess deaths took place in Spain in spring, at 142,9%. (week ending April 3), Bulgaria is second.
For those who died under the age of 65, the highest weekly excess death rate was also recorded in Bulgaria – 108,5%. in the week ending November 27, Great Britain came second at 62,7 percent. above the five-year average for the week ending April 24.
Poland with the highest rate of excessive mortality in Europe
If we take into account the total excess of deaths from all analyzed weeks of 2020, it turns out that the worst situation took place in Poland. As indicated in the Office for National Statistics report, the cumulative excess mortality was 11,6%. above the 2015 average–2019
As the authors of the analysis explain, in the summer, most countries saw a decline in excessive mortality rates. This changed in the fall and winter, with the increase in excessive mortality in particular in Eastern European countries, but also in Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands. “In the case of Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic, this resulted in a large increase in the accumulated excess mortality, ending the year with rates higher by over 8%. than the five-year average »reports the Office for National Statistics.
The chart below shows the relative cumulative age-standardized death rate for Poland and how we compare with other countries.
Why so many excess deaths in Poland – Polish doctor’s report
When writing about the Office for National Statistics report on excessive mortality in Europe and the result of Poland, it is worth mentioning another document, namely the report of Dr. Paweł Basiukiewicz, cardiologist, internal medicine specialist and head of the Observation and Infectious Department of the Western Hospital in Grodzisk Mazowiecki. A document entitled “Not a single tear. Healthcare in a pandemic »points to possible causes of such a large number of redundant deaths. Its author emphasizes, however, that this is a subjective view.
In the document, the doctor indicates that in Poland by 2020, he brought over 90 thousand. excess deaths. These are partly covid deaths, but also cases caused by healthcare failure in the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the problems indicated by Basiukiewicz “overreaction to the appearance of the virus”. “(…) The extraordinary isolation and disinfection procedures used in health care, preventing the possibility of infection lead to neglect in the field of diagnosis and treatment of both“ COVID ”and“ nonCOVID ”patients”, writes the report.
– At any cost, we inhibit the transmission of the coronavirus – admits the doctor. – As we can see, it doesn’t do anything. Meanwhile, the effect of the observed over-reaction to the appearance of the virus is an increasing health debt, i.e., as Basiukiewicz explains, a delay in the provision of services in all areas of medicine. “These excess deaths should be viewed as a very high interest rate on this debt”, admits Paweł Basiukiewicz in the report. Details of the report in the article: Over 90 excess deaths in Poland. A doctor with a collapse in health care.
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