15,000 more deaths than average in Netherlands last year

Last year, 15 thousand more people died than was expected for the year, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, Statistics Netherlands reported on Friday.

Excess mortality was also high in the first week of 2021, with nearly 4 thousand people dying between January 4 and 10, about 650 more than expected. In the last week of 2020, between December 28 and January 3, nearly 800 more people died than expected for the period. 

Mortality in the Netherlands has been higher than expected since week 39 of 2020, coinciding with the arrival of the second wave of Covid-19 infections. Between week 39 of 2020 and week 1 of 2021 a total of 56 thousand people died, 8,200 more than expected for this period, the stats office said.

In all of 2020, a total of nearly 169,000 people died in the country. That is over 15 thousand or 10 percent more than was expected for the year. This excess mortality is largely due to the coronavirus, but a small number of extra deaths can also be attributed to a heatwave in weeks 33 and 34 of 2020. 

By 10:00 a.m. on December 31, public health institute RIVM knew about 11,500 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in 2020. The actual number of Covid-19 deaths is expected to be higher, as especially in the first wave not everyone was tested for the virus.