An international comparison of age and sex dependency of COVID-19 Deaths in 2020 - a descriptive analysis

Summary COVID-19 mortality, the number of reported COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 persons observed so far, is described in 15 European countries and the USA depending on age groups and sex for the full year 2020. It is contrasted to the corresponding historic all-cause mortality per year depending on age and sex observed in these countries. Although there are substantial differences in the age and sex dependency of COVID-19 mortality between countries, there are some common features: Exponential increase with age is a good model to describe and analyse both COVID-19 and all-cause mortality above an age of 40 years, where almost all COVID-19 death occur. Age dependency is stronger for COVID-19 mortality than for all-cause mortality, males have an excess risk compared to women which flattens off with increasing age. Also with regard to calendar time, there were differences in the age and sex dependency between countries with the common tendency that male excess risk of COVID-19 mortality was smaller in the second half of the year.