According to Region Norrbotten's latest report, 226 county residents have died of or with covid-19 disease since the outbreak began.

Of the deaths, 116 are men and 110 women.

Quite exactly half of the deceased have lived in special housing for the elderly (SÄBO) and of those who have lived at home, about 70 per cent have had home care / home health care or both of these support.

24 deceased were under 70 years of age

The age range looks like this among those who have died of or with covid-19 disease:

  • Under 70 years:

    17 men - 7 women

  • 70-74 years:

    12 men - 7 women

  • 75-79 years:

    18 men - 15 women

  • 80-84 years:

    20 men - 17 women

  • 85-89 years:

    34 men - 43 women

  • 90-94 years:

    8 men - 18 women

  • 94 years and older:

    7 men - 3 women

High mortality in the county

SVT has spoken with Robert Lundqvist who is a statistician at the Norrbotten Region.

He compiles every week what mortality looks like in the county - regardless of the cause of death.

Lundqvist sees a clear trend during the year that covid-19 has ravaged the county.

- If you compare with the last five years, it is approximately 190 to 200 plus more deaths.

Covid-19 has certainly contributed, but possibly also that many did not seek the care they would otherwise have done due to the risk of infection, he says.

Sharp increase in Luleå and Boden

If you compare the number of deaths in 2020-2021 with 2015-2019, the development in Luleå is a gloomy reading.

110 more died in the city of residence and in Boden 50 more have died compared to a "normal year".

Piteå, Pajala and Kiruna all have plus numbers over 20 while Gällivare, Haparanda and Kalix are around ten more dead.

- The smaller municipalities are not included because the numbers are so low that the outcomes are characterized by too many coincidences, says Robert Lundqvist.

That's how mortality counts

Researchers are leaning towards the so-called excess mortality to determine how severely a pandemic like this affects a population.

That is, how much the mortality rate stands out one year, compared to the average in the years before that.

Statistics Sweden (SCB) has concluded that 97,164 Swedes died last year.

This should be compared with the years 2015–2019, when an average of 90,962 people died each year - in other words, 6,202 more Swedes died in 2020 compared with a “normal” year.