More Icelanders Died Last Year

In 2022, 2,670 deaths were registered – up from 2,330 in the previous year. That’s an average of 51.3 people each week. Over the four years prior to that, the average was 43.8 deaths per week, RUV reports.

The data from Statistics Iceland can be seen here, in Icelandic.

The number of Icelanders has also increased over these time periods, but an examination of the number of deaths per 100,000 people shows that loss of life has outpaced population growth.

The vast majority of those to have lost their lives were aged 70 or older, as in previous years, and perhaps unsurprisingly. Most happened in March and April – previous data has shown that most deaths caused by Covid occurred between February and April last year, when the disease killed more than 130 people

However, whether the increase in deaths between years can be attributed to Covid cannot yet be confirmed. The Directorate of Health has last year's figures and causes of death, for consideration, but is not ready to comment on them at this time.