Beyond Deaths per Capita: Comparative CoViD-19 Mortality Indicators

Area of Science:

• Demography
• Epidemiology
• Public Health

Background:

• COVID-19 mortality necessitates standardized measures for accurate international and temporal comparisons.
• Traditional demographic methods require detailed data that may not always be available.

Approach:

• Developed and applied three demographic measures: unstandardized rate, indirectly age-and-sex standardized rate, and reduction in life expectancy at birth.
• Utilized data from 186 UN countries and territories, plus sub-national data from Brazil, China, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Spain, and the USA.

Key Points:

• Unstandardized COVID-19 death rates varied significantly, with New York peaking higher than its state's 2017 Crude Death Rate.
• Standardization revealed different population comparisons; Mexico and Peru showed higher standardized rates than Italy, Spain, and the USA.
• US life expectancy declined by over a year in 2020, reaching its lowest since 2008, with larger reductions in Panama, Peru, Italy, Spain, USA, and Mexico.

Conclusions:

• Indirect standardization is a reliable alternative for international comparisons when detailed age and sex data are limited.
• Several populations experienced significant life expectancy reductions in 2020 due to COVID-19 mortality.