Low-income Dutch more likely to die of Covid than rich ones

Netherlands residents with a low income were more likely to die of the coronavirus than people with a higher income in the first wave of infections, according to new analysis of Covid-19 mortality figures by Statistics Netherlands and Amsterdam UMC.

During the first wave of coronavirus infections, from March to July last year, a total of 10,067 people in the Netherlands died of the coronavirus. The researchers analyzed these figures to see whether the disease hit certain population groups harder.

They found that people with a lower income in all age groups were more likely to die of the virus, but that this effect was most prominent among people under the age of 70. Among under-70s, the chance of dying of the coronavirus was almost three times higher for people with low income than for those with higher incomes. 

According to the researchers, this could be due to lower income Dutch living in smaller housing, closer together and their working conditions putting them at greater risk of becoming infected. This effect is also visible in other diseases, the researchers said.

The researchers also found that people who immigrated to the Netherlands in the past few generations were at higher risk of dying from Covid-19 in the first wave. This was especially true for people with a non-Western background, among which the risk of dying of the coronavirus was almost 1.5 times higher than for other Dutch. 

These differences were highest in the regions of Amsterdam, Haaglanden, and Rotterdam-Rijnmond. In the south of the country, where the outbreak hit first, the coronavirus affected everyone, regardless of migration background.