Finland experiencing 14% higher deathrate in 2022 compared to 2021

In Jan-May 2022 Finland has had 14% more deaths compared to same time period 2021.

Finland's mortality increased more in the first half of the year than in many years – the increase in deaths may already lower the life expectancy of babies

https://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000008898382.html

(translation from bing/edge finnish>english)

According to Statistics Finland, more people died in Finland in the first half of the year than in years.

According to the preliminary population statistics published on Tuesday, 26,560 people died in Finland in January to May, which is nearly 3,250 more than in the corresponding period of the previous year.

Statistics Finland has not recorded such a large increase in the number of deaths during the current measurement time series, which goes back to 1990. In all, nearly 61,000 people have died in Finland in the last 12 months.

Markus Rapo, Chief Actuary at Statistics Finland , estimates that the number of deaths will also decrease the life expectancy of newborns in 2022.

Life expectancy of girls decreased already in 2021

According to Statistics Finland, the life expectancy of boys was 79.2 years in 2021 and that of girls 84.5 years. According to the unofficially calculated life expectancy for the last 12 months, the life expectancy of boys would be 78.8 years and that of girls 84 years.

The life expectancy of girls fell already in 2021 from the previous year, so if it also decreases in 2022, it would have decreased two years in a row. According to Statistics Finland, this has never happened before in the time when annual life expectancy began to be lowered in 1970.

Life expectancy in 2022 will ultimately be determined by how mortality develops during the rest of the year.

Mortality increased in older population groups

According to Statistics Finland, the number of deaths is explained by the fact that Finland's population is ageing. Mortality has increased most sharply in the older population groups, and already among those aged 70 to 74 it has risen to its highest level since 2013.

"The mortality rate among women aged 100 and over is higher than at any time in the 21st century," Rapo says in Statistics Finland's bulletin.

According to the preliminary population statistics, Finland's population was 5,550,612 at the end of May, and the population grew by around 2,370 at the beginning of the year. The population was boosted by migration gain from abroad, as the number of deaths was 8,269 higher than that of births in the first half of the year.