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December 08, 2022DEATH COUNTS AND EXCESS MORTALITY, SEPTEMBER 2022 Statistics Canada has provided provisional information on deaths in Canada up to October 1, 2022. This includes deaths attributable to all causes; fluctuations from one week to the next may be attributable to many different causes of death. The data does not include all deaths that occurred during the reference period. Not all provinces have reported their results up to October 1; only Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia have reported to this date. Information is not complete for recent months in:
Prince Edward Island (to December 25, 2021)
Nova Scotia (to October 30, 2021)
New Brunswick (to December 11, 2021)
Ontario (to May 21, 2022)
Manitoba (to November 13, 2021)
Saskatchewan (to August 13, 2022)
With limited information from several provinces, national estimates are available up to August 6, 2022.
A comparison of deaths in recent years with the number of deaths reported in similar weeks in years prior to 2020 indicates whether mortality is higher than usually observed at that time of year. The number of deaths reported in each week is represented below as a ratio of deaths per 1 million residents (population as of July 1). Based on observed historical trends, Statistics Canada has also estimated the expected number of deaths for each week and compared this with observed deaths, adjusted where possible reflecting provisional data. Estimates of expected deaths are presented with a 95 per cent confidence interval.
Statistics Canada has identified six periods of excess mortality in Canada since 2020: March-June 2020, September 2020-February 2021, May 2021, July-December 2021, January-February 2022 and April-May 2022. The last two periods of excess mortality coincide with the outbreaks of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 while previous periods of excess mortality coincide with prior variants.
Statistics Canada notes that there have been extended periods of excess mortaltiy through much of 2022 in Alberta and British Columbia. The excess mortality in these two provinces is notably concentrated among those under 45 years of age. There has also been elevated mortality in Quebec during the most recent weeks and periods of excess mortality during 2022 in Saskatchewan.
Source: Statistics Canada. Table 13-10-0768-01 Weekly death counts, by age group and sex; Table 13-10-0784-01 Adjusted number of deaths, expected number of deaths and estimates of excess mortality, by week
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