Data | COVID-19 not an old man’s disease in poorer nations

Nearly 54% of pandemic-related deaths in lower middle-income countries in 2020 were among people under 65

Using official COVID-19 death counts for 64 countries, a World Bank Policy Research paper has found that middle-income countries saw a compared to high-income countries. According to official reports, on average, across high-income countries, just 11% of the deaths were among those aged under 65. In contrast, people under 65 constituted on average 40% of official COVID-19 deaths in upper-middleincome countries and 54% of deaths in lowermiddle-income countries in 2020. The paper argues that differences in the population age structure of nations can only partly answer these contrasting profiles. Both COVID-19 and age mortality curves are flatter in countries with lower incomes, the report finds. The report also observes that the contrasting mortality patterns could be due to a combination of variation in age patterns of infection rates and infection fatality rates.

The graph shows the age distribution of officially recorded COVID-19 deaths in 2020 by country. A clear distinction in the age profiles of COVID-19 deaths is observed. Fewer deaths among the young were observed in relatively wealthy nations. This trend does not hold for relatively poor countries.