Experimental statistics


Deaths

Summary

Statistics Iceland publishes weekly figures on the number of deaths in 2023, based on reports from Registers Iceland. The data provide a good estimate of the development of death rate over the year, although some underestimation is expected in the latest figures on the number of deaths in 2022 and 2023, mainly due to death notices arriving late to Registers Iceland. Weekly deaths will be published quarterly in 2023.

Description

The figures are broken down by week, age and sex. Only those with domicile in Iceland at the time of death are counted.

Objectives

Due to high demand for data, both internationally and domestically, Statistics Iceland releases statistics on the number of deaths for 2017-2023 by weeks.

Weekly death figures for 2023 have been updated

Updated: 10 May 2023

The first 14 weeks of 2023 saw an average of 51.0 deaths each week or more than the first 14 weeks of 2017-2022 when 48.2 died on average. Most people died in the age group of 90 years and older during the period 2017-2022. The most common age of the deceased in the first 14 weeks of 2023 was 88 years, but 87 years for the same weeks in 2017-2022.

The chart below shows a graph of weekly mortality trends in 2017-2023. To better illustrate weekly mortality trends, the graph is based on a 10-week moving average rather than showing the raw data. In this way, it is easier to compare trends between years, as weekly mortality rates are generally very low for Iceland and the numbers fluctuate considerably from one week to another.



Statistics

Deaths - Weekly Data 100523 (xlsx)


Metadata

It is worth pointing out that the number of deaths for 2022 are preliminary and likely to somewhat underestimate the true number of deaths, mainly due to late arrival of death notices. The average population of each year was used for division for the calculation of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

More metadata about statistics of deaths can be found here: Metadata about the dead


Use of these experimental statistics is free. Please quote the source.
For further information please contact+354 528 1030. E-mail: population@statice.is