In Slovakia, the fewest people died in April in the last eight months, COVID-19 represented more than 6% of the deaths

The total excess-mortality rate in Slovakia in April 2022 decreased by 3%, while a month earlier it was at the level of 20%. Significantly fewer people died than in the pre-pandemic years in the working age group and also in Bratislavský kraj. There was a drop also in the two most common causes of death – circulatory system diseases and tumors. Almost 290 people died of COVID-19.

In April 2022, Slovakia recorded the lowest number of deaths since August 2021 and it was close as possible to the pre-pandemic levels this year. In total, almost 4.5 thousand people died in the country, representing an increase by 3.3% (144 people) compared to the five-year average of 2015-2019, before the onset of the pandemic¹⁾. The March´s excess mortality was still at the level of 20.3%. This results from the preliminary data on the number and causes of death in April 2022, currently published by the Statistical Office of the SR. At the same time, the Office also revised the data for the first three months of this year.

"Excess-mortality has decreased mainly due to the lower number of deaths in the two most common causes of death - circulatory system diseases and tumors. The number of people dying from tumors in Slovakia has been lower than the 5-year average before the pandemic for the sixth consecutive months already," stated Zuzana Podmanická, Director of the Department of Population Statistics of the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic.

A lower number of deaths than the 5-year average before the pandemic was also recorded in the groups of people in the pre-productive (from 0 to 14 years) and in the productive age (from 15 to 64 years) during all four months of this year. In April, this was the most significant decrease in the number of people of working age compared to the previous years.

During the first four months of this year, excess-mortality was reflected only in the group of seniors over 65 years of age. In April 2022, it reached 10%, when a total of almost 3.6 thousand seniors died. As in the previous months, the situation was worse in the subgroup of younger seniors (aged 65 to 74), in which by 19% more people died compared to the five-year average in April.

"In April, a significant reduction in excess-mortality was reflected in all the eight regions of Slovakia. In Bratislava, the number of deaths has even dropped by 8% below the average of the last five years before the pandemic. Still slightly above-average values persisted especially in Trenčiansky (9%) and Prešovský kraj (10%),“ added Zuzana Podmanická.

Compared with March, the situation improved the most in Bratislavský, Trnavský and Košický kraj, where the number of deaths dropped by more than 21 percentage points compared to the 5-year average.

COVID-19 was the fourth most common cause of death also in April

In terms of the causes of death, a higher number of deaths remained as a result of COVID-19 infection. Although their number decreased by three quarters than a year ago, as many as 289 people still died of the new virus in the fourth month of this year. Therefore, COVID-19 infection remained fourth in the list of the most common causes of death²⁾ in April.

From the regional perspective, the COVID-19 infection had the largest share of more than 10% of the total number of deaths in Trenčiansky kraj which continues to be the leader for the sixth consecutive month. On the contrary, the lowest share was recorded in Košický kraj for the second consecutive month (4% of the total number of deaths in April 2022). Together with Žilinský kraj, this region also had the lowest absolute number of deaths from COVID-19 infection among all regions of Slovakia.

In April, the structure of deaths in Slovakia was dominated by diseases of the circulatory system, which caused 44% of deaths. 2 thousand people died of them, which was more than 5% less than in the pre-pandemic years). Significantly lower mortality was observed in people of working age, on the contrary, excess-mortality in diseases of the circulatory system manifested itself mainly in the age group of younger seniors (from 65 to 74 years), but also only at the level of 5%.

Tumors were the second most common cause of death, affecting 952 people (21% of all deaths). However, in April, similarly as in the previous five months, fewer people died from these causes than the five-year average, currently up to 12%. The third most common cause with 11% was respiratory diseases. This cause of death has been the second highest over-mortality¹⁾ of all causes of death in the SR for a long time, up to 47%. 483 people died of respiratory diseases in April.