Over 73,000 People Died in Slovakia Last Year, Highest Figure Since 1919

Bratislava, March 31 (TASR) – Over 73,000 people died in Slovakia last year, which is the highest absolute figure to be reported since 1919, the Statistics Office reported on Thursday.

Excess mortality, i.e. the number of extra deaths when compared to the five-year average before the pandemic, amounted to 37 percent last year. The highest number of people died in January 2021.

“The coronavirus pandemic caused a significant increase in the mortality rate in Slovakia. The number of deaths exceeded 1,000 deaths per 100,000 people in 2020, and it even increased to 1,350 in 2021. This is the highest gross mortality rate in the post-war history of Slovakia,” said Zuzana Podmanicka, head of the office’s population statistics department.

The highest number of people died in the first and final quarters of last year, when Slovakia was hit by the second and third waves of the coronavirus pandemic. The number of deaths in these months accounted for almost two thirds of the deaths reported for the whole of last year.

Kosice region reported the highest excess mortality among all regions of Slovakia, at 43 percent, followed by Presov region (42 percent). Conversely, Bratislava region recorded the lowest excess mortality (32 percent) and Zilina region the second lowest (34 percent).

The five most common causes of death last year were diseases of the circulatory system (38.6 percent), COVID-19 (20 percent), cancer (18 percent), respiratory diseases (9 percent), and gastro-intestinal diseases (4 percent).