Although the causes of the unexpected increase in 2022 are yet unknown, Joachim Ragnitz, the general director of Ifo’s Dresden branch, believes that summer heat waves and flu outbreaks at the end of the year likely had a part.
Statistics made by the Ifo Institute and released on Friday show that over the 3 years of the Covid-19 outbreak, more deaths occurred in Germany than one could have anticipated.
Nearly two-thirds of all additional fatalities from 2020 to 2022 occurred in persons above the age of 80, whereas the number for those under the age of 60 was around 13,000 deaths. Although not all of those deaths may have been caused by Covid-19, 2022 ended up being the bloodiest year, with excess mortality surpassing 74,000 compared to 68,000 the year before.
Although the causes of the unexpected increase in 2022 are yet unknown, summer heat waves and flu outbreaks at the end of the year most likely had a part, according to Joachim Ragnitz, managing director of Ifo’s Dresden branch.
By using the average amount of deaths from 2016 to 2019 and adjusting for changes in the age structure and increased life expectancy, the institute computed the anticipated amount of deaths for the period.
While early 2022 saw Germany loosen its Covid restrictions, the nation last month joined other European Union members in setting additional testing procedures on travelers coming from China in response to an increase in cases there.
