Stats: Over 54,000 Deaths in Slovakia Last Year, Mortality Down Y-o-Y (2)

Bratislava, March 28 (TASR) - Last year, 54,133 people died in Slovakia, down by 9.1 percent year-on-year (y-o-y), the Statistics Office reported on Thursday, adding that the figures came close to those posted in the period before the coronavirus pandemic. "The lower mortality y-o-y and lower excess mortality, i.e. the number of extra deaths when compared to the five-year average before the pandemic (2015-2019), can be ascribed to the fadeout of the pandemic and to a drop in the number of people who died from the most frequent cause of death long term - circulatory-system diseases," stated Zuzana Podmanicka, director of the office's population statistics department. Circulatory-system diseases were the most frequent cause of death in Slovakia last year (24,530 deaths), followed by cancer (13,535). The third most frequent cause of death was respiratory diseases (4,502), followed by digestive diseases (3,026) and external causes of death (2,435). Last year, 526 people died of COVID-19. "This was only 1 percent of total deaths, and coronavirus thus ranked among causes of death that in the long term only slightly affected mortality in Slovakia," stated the office. The highest number of deaths in general was reported for the age category of 65+ (42,125). "Although the number of deaths among seniors decreased by 9.2 percent y-o-y, it was still almost 6 percent higher than the five-year average before the pandemic. While the number of those who died in the category of seniors older than 75 was only 1.4 percent higher than before the pandemic, excess mortality in the category of younger seniors (between 65 and 74) was still relatively high," said the office. ko/df