In many rich countries covid-19 has slashed life expectancy to below 2015 levels
Last year only Danes, Norwegians and Finnish women enjoyed slight gains in longevity
Comparing the impact of covid-19 across countries is difficult. One reason is that official figures about virus-related deaths can be unreliable (our excess death model attempts to correct for this). Another is that mortality rates differ by age: the old are more likely to die from the disease than the young. So the effect of the virus on a country depends not only on mortality rates in each age group, but also on the age structure of its population.
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