Despite reports Covid-19 caused 7,500 excessive deaths in Canada last year, the nation had fewer deaths than could have been expected.
It had fewer deaths than could have been expected without a pandemic.
When Statistics Canada released the 2019 death total, it noted, “There were 284,082 deaths in 2019, the highest annual total since the vital statistics registration system was introduced in 1921. The increase in the number of deaths is expected and is due to population growth and aging.” Later estimates were more than 287,000 deaths in 2019.
Initial counts estimate a little more than 300,000 people died in Canada in 2020. Roughly 13,000 - 16,000 more Canadians died in 2020 than in 2019. Perhaps this explains the excessive deaths, except,
“The increase in the number of deaths is expected and is due to population growth and aging.”
In fact, the increase in Canada's death rate slowed in 2020. As seen in the chart, Canada's deaths per 1,000 people only increased by 0.67 per cent.
© Statista 2021
The percentage increase has been dropping for the last five years, but as the baby boomers age out, we can expect the death rate to increase more and more throughout the next decade.
It can be argued that the lockdowns were effective in keeping deaths down. However, the economic fallout, suicides, overdoses and mental health problems the lockdowns have caused will be felt years after the virus remains dangerous. The lockdowns were ineffective, poorly enacted and probably more damaging than the virus itself. Time will tell.
I don't mean to diminish the lives of anyone who has died of Covid or their families' grief, but death is the high cost of living. Hundreds of thousands of Canadians die every year, but we'll never know how many died alone and imprisoned in their own homes in 2020.
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