Coronavirus (COVID-19) death toll in the Benelux region May 2021

As of May 12, 2021, the total number of deaths due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the Benelux countries was around 42.8 thousand casualties. Since the first death occurred on February 6, 2020 in the Netherlands, new casualties were reported daily in the Benelux. The death toll amounted to approximately 24.6 thousand in Belgium and 17.4 thousand in the Netherlands, while Luxembourg registered the least deaths.

Why such a high death rate?

Although it is hard to fully explain the different death rates among countries, certain explanations have been put forward more than others. Indeed, as COVID-19 casualties are higher in older patients, countries could face different death tolls due to the different age structures of their population. For instance, 70 percent of deaths in the Netherlands occurred in people aged over 70, and 51 percent of deaths in Belgium occurred in nursing homes. However, in 2020, the Belgian population was not particularly old, especially when compared to countries such as Germany or Japan.

Other explanations

As of May 12, 2021, over 2.6 million people have tested positive for the coronavirus in the Benelux, from which 1.57 million in the Netherlands and one million in Belgium. These numbers solely reflect confirmed and diagnosed cases and not the entire number of sick or infected people. Indeed, numbers depend on the logistic capacity for testing, which can vary from one country to another. The accurate number of infected people is, therefore, unknown. Meanwhile, the number of deaths due to the virus relies on this unknown number. Moreover, some deaths are not accounted for in the death tolls because not all deaths have been officially linked to the coronavirus. For instance, in France or Italy, COVID-19 death tolls solely include tested casualties while untested deaths are not systematically considered. In Belgium, however, suspected cases are accounted for in the death toll, regardless of the person having been tested or not.