COVID-19 is considered the leading cause of death if the doctor determines the cause of death was COVID-19 or pneumonia caused by the disease.

Ninety-six men died due to COVID-19 and 105 women. While many other countries have reported more men have died than women from COVID-19, in Estonia women are more likely to live longer so there are more women in these older age groups.

The number of deaths was highest in people over the age of 75 and 152 people who died were in this age group. There were 19 deaths in the under-65s and 30 in the 65-74 age group.

December was the deadliest month for deaths caused by COVID-19 when 89 people died after contracting the disease.

While the TAI reports the cause of death for 201 people was coronavirus, the Health Board reports all deaths of people infected with COVID-19 regardless of whether it was the main cause of death. As of the time of writing, the Health Board has recorded 424 deaths.

Preliminary data shows 15,643 people died in Estonia last year, 7,406 men and 8,237 women.

As in previous years, the main cause of death was circulatory diseases (7,687), followed by malignancies (3,636) and accidents, poisonings and traumas were third (955). These were followed by gastrointestinal diseases (759) and respiratory diseases (710).

Mortality in 2020 in Estonia was higher than expected, but the increase was not large compared to countries such as Belgium, Great Britain, Portugal and Spain.

The data described above is preliminary and will be clarified and published on May 3.

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