28 million extra years of life were lost in 31 countries in 2020: study
CTV
More than 28 million additional years of life were lost than expected in 2020 in a study of 31 upper-middle and high-income countries, according to the British Medical Journal.
In the study published by the British Medical Journal Wednesday, most of the 37 countries examined had more premature deaths than expected in 2020, with a higher rate found in men compared to women.
The exceptions were Taiwan, New Zealand, Denmark, Iceland, Norway and South Korea.
The countries with the highest rate of excess premature deaths were Russia, Bulgaria, Lithuania and the United States.
The study examined “years of life lost” (YLL) to have a fuller understanding of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires not only counting excess deaths – which is the difference between observed and expected numbers of death from all causes – but also analysis of how premature said deaths are.
