Corona left its mark in all areas during the peak times of 2020 and 2021. Even with life expectancies. Nationwide regional differences also testify to the behavior of people in the crisis.
Magdeburg/Wiesbaden (dpa/sa) – In Saxony-Anhalt, life expectancy fell sharply in the two pandemic years 2020 and 2021. This is the result of statistics published on Wednesday by the Wiesbaden-based Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB). According to this, life expectancy in the course of the previous year was 75.20 years for men, before Corona in 2019 it was 76.73 years and in the first year of the pandemic 2020 it was 76.34 years. For women, the BiB put the life expectancy in 2021 at 81.93 years, in 2019 it was 82.92 and in 2020 it was 82.75 years.
According to the statistics, this corresponds to a decrease of more than a year and a half for men and almost a year for women – from 2019 to 2021. Saxony-Anhalt is thus well above the national average, which the BiB for the period of 0.61 years (men) and 0.37 years (women).
“In the analysis between 2019 and 2021, the southern regions of eastern Germany have recorded the strongest declines,” said mortality researcher Markus Sauerberg, according to the release. “Not only were years of life lost in older people. In men, increased mortality in the middle age group between 45 and 70 years also contributed significantly to this development.” Before the pandemic began, life expectancy in Germany had increased by around 0.1 year a year. A drop in life expectancy of more than a year is very unusual outside of wartime.
The numbers prove the danger that can emanate from the corona virus, it said. Strong regional differences also made it clear that, in addition to the national framework conditions, regional factors also have an influence on mortality. According to the Federal Institute, these include regional differences in the infection situation, the measures taken and the behavior of the population.
