The excess mortality rate in France was higher in 2022 than during the Covid
The number of people dying in France in 2022 from all causes was higher than in 2021. The higher mortality rate is due not only to the flu and heatwave.
After two years of the Covid pandemic, INSEE experts were expecting the number of deaths to return to its usual level in 2022. However, last year the statistics institute recorded 675,000 deaths, 53,800 more than expected. This is more than in 2020 (668,900 deaths) and 2021 (661,600 deaths).
This spike in deaths mainly affected the elderly - the excess mortality among 75-84 year-olds was 11% higher than forecast - but also, and more surprisingly, the under-34s. Even if this phenomenon remains low - the excess deaths concerned 875 people aged under 34 in 2022, out of a total of 53,000. "This is surprising since these are age groups where the risk of mortality is low", admits Sylvie le Minez, head of the demographic and social studies unit at INSEE.
Not all of these deaths can be attributed to Covid, since the number of deaths linked to the disease will have fallen significantly by 2022: 38,300 people will have died from the coronavirus in 2022, compared with 59,100 in 2021, according to provisional figures from Santé publique France. So how can this excess mortality be explained?