# A comparison of excess deaths by UK country and region during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

## TL;DR

The study compares how different regions in the UK were affected by the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of excess deaths.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a new method to estimate excess mortality by comparing observed deaths to expected trends from previous years.

## Key findings

- Excess mortality was highest in London and lowest in the South-West of England.
- Males consistently experienced higher excess mortality than females during both pandemic waves.

## Abstract

We compare the impact of the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic on risk of
age-standardized mortality by sex, UK country, and English region. Each wave is defined as
lasting 26 weeks and are consecutive beginning in 2020 week 11. The expected rate is
estimated from 2015 to 2019 mean and the projected mortality trend from the same period
are used to estimate excess mortality. By both measures, excess mortality was highest and
lowest in regions of England, London and the South-West, respectively. Excess mortality
was consistently higher for males than females.