Press release No. 452 of 13 November 2020
WIESBADEN – From 1 to 18 October 2020, at least 44,179 people died in Germany, according to provisional results. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) also reports that the figures available so far for that month correspond roughly to the average of the years 2016 to 2019 (+0.7% or 313 deaths).
Number of COVID-19 deaths is increasing
For Week 42 (12 to 18 October), a total 17,189 deaths have been reported so far. This corresponds to the average across the preceding four years. However, the number of people who died and who had had laboratory confirmed COVID-19 disease is rising from week to week. In Week 42, a total 212 COVID-19 deaths were reported to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) - that is 135 more cases than two weeks before.
In spring, more than 8,000 people with confirmed COVID-19 infection died within eight weeks (Weeks 12 to 20), which led to a similar increase in the total number of deaths. At the time, there were up to 1,739 COVID-19 deaths within one week (Week 15).
| Total number | Diference from | COVID-19 | Relative difference between total in 2020 and… | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Ø 2016-2019 | deaths | Ø 2016-2019 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Sources: total death figures: Federal Statistical Office (as at 13 November 2020), COVID-19 deaths: Robert Koch Institute (as at 12 November 2020) | ||||||||
| Weeks 1-39 | 707,308 | +8,220 | 9,443 | +1% | +5% | +1% | -2% | +1% |
| Week 40 | 17,326 | +692 | 77 | +4% | +6% | +4% | +4% | +3% |
| Week 41 | 17,127 | -262 | 108 | -2% | -2% | -2% | +1% | -3% |
| Week 42 | 17,189 | -62 | 212 | 0% | -2% | 0% | +4% | -3% |
| Wees 1-42 | 758,950 | +8,588 | 9,840 | +1% | +5% | +1% | -2% | +1% |
Low to moderate excess mortality in other European countries
The EuroMOMO network for mortality monitoring reports low excess mortality for England, France, Italy, Portugal and Slovenia, and moderate excess mortality for the Netherlands and Spain for Week 42 (12 to 18 October 2020). In that week, EuroMOMO did not record any excess mortality for other European countries.
The Statistical Office of the European Union (Eurosta) reports that nearly 170,000 additional deaths were recorded in the entire European Union from March to June compared with the average of the years 2016 to 2019. So far, the development has not been as marked in the second half of 2020.
Methodological notes on the mortality figures for Germany:
It is not yet possible to assess what impact the development of death figures to date will have on the entire year of 2020. The development in all of 2020 will have to be considered for a final assessment of temporary excess mortality. In addition, the number of deaths has to be placed in relation to the population to consider, for instance, the ageing process of the population in an adequate manner.
Based on the ad-hoc evaluation "Sterbefälle – Fallzahlen nach Tagen, Wochen, Monaten, Altersgruppen und Bundesländern für Deutschland 2016 bis 2020" (Deaths – Number of cases by day, week, month, age group and Land for Germany, 2016 to 2020), users can carry out their own evaluations of how death figures developed over the year. First provisional data are provided for 2020. The provisional data are mere counts of the cases of death reported by the registrar's offices; the usual data plausibility and completeness checks have not been carried out.
Due to legal regulations concerning the reporting of deaths to the registrar’s offices and differences in the reporting behaviour between registrar’s offices and official statistics, up-to-date information on the number of deaths can be provided with a delay of about four weeks. The results available for 2020 will increase slightly on account of late reporting.
The provisional mortality figures refer to the date of death, not the date on which a death was registered. As the reported COVID-19 deaths are also published by day of death by the RKI, the figures can be compared over time with the provisional total death figures.
More information:
For more information on the ad-hoc evaluation of day-to-day mortality figures please refer to the theme page "Deaths, life expectancy", the "Corona statistics" webpage and the podcast "Sterbefallzahlen und Übersterblichkeit während der Corona-Pandemie" of the Federal Statistical Office.
