ENGLAND had the worst excess death rate in Europe during the first half of 2020, new figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown.
The ONS report says that during the first six months of the year England had the “longest continuous period of excess mortality of any country compared, resulting in England having the highest levels of excess mortality in Europe for the period as a whole”.
This chart shows the excess death figures across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland over the first six months of the year. Scotland is represented by the yellow line.
The study on excess deaths in Europe also found that Spain had the highest peak level of excess deaths, while England had the second-highest peak.
On a local authority basis, the highest rates of excess deaths were found to be in central Spain and Northern Italy. In terms of cities, Madrid had the highest peak level of excess deaths.
The report compares data from 29 European countries and treats the UK’s four nations separately.
Edward Morgan, health analysis and life events at the ONS, said: “While none of the four UK nations had a peak mortality level as high as Spain or the worst-hit local areas of Spain and Italy, excess mortality was geographically widespread throughout the UK during the pandemic, whereas it was more geographically localised in most countries of Western Europe.
“Combined with the relatively slow downward ‘tail’ of the pandemic in the UK, this meant that by the end of May, England had seen the highest overall relative excess mortality out of all the European countries compared.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel