"COVID-19 Deaths Three Times Official Statistics"

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] It has been estimated that the number of people who lost their lives due to COVID-19 is more than three times higher than the official statistics.

On the 2nd (local time), the British weekly news magazine The Economist reported that the global excess deaths from January last year to the present are estimated to be 15.2 million. This is about 3.3 times higher than the official COVID-19 death toll.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) tally, the cumulative COVID-19 death toll as of this date is 4,526,583.

The Economist stated that the confidence interval for the estimated number of excess deaths is between 9.3 million and 18.1 million at a 95% confidence level.

This means there is a 95% probability that the true number of excess deaths lies between 9.3 million and 18.1 million.

Excess deaths refer to the number of deaths exceeding what was expected based on past data. Excess deaths include cases where people did not die directly from COVID-19 but died because they could not visit hospitals or receive treatment due to COVID-19.

By continent, Africa showed the largest discrepancy between official deaths and excess deaths. Africa's official death toll is about 196,000, but excess deaths are estimated to be between 850,000 and 2.2 million.

Asia also showed a significant difference, with excess deaths estimated between 3.4 million and 12 million, compared to the official death toll of about 1,043,000.

Other regions with large gaps between excess deaths and official deaths include Europe (official deaths about 1,189,000; excess deaths estimated between 1.8 million and 1.9 million), Latin America (1,442,000; 2 million to 2.2 million), and North America (669,000; 770,000 to 850,000), in that order.

The Economist explained that only a few countries had fewer deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to previous years.

Notably, New Zealand's estimated excess deaths ranged from -2,500 to -2,100, which is much lower than the official death toll of 26.

South Korea also showed cases where the estimated excess deaths ranged from -6,200 to 4,300, which is below the official death toll of about 2,300.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.