CSO Frontier Series outputs may use new methods which are under development and/or data sources which may be incomplete, for example new administrative data sources. Particular care must be taken when interpreting the statistics in this release.
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Between March 2020 and February 2022, 59% of deaths from COVID-19 occurred in general and orthopaedic hospitals, with 29% of deaths occurring in nursing homes.
Dublin City recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths at 951, or 17% of all COVID-19 deaths in the period.
The fewest number of COVID-19 deaths occurred in Leitrim with 26 such deaths recorded, or, 0.5% of such deaths nationally.
Persons aged 65 and over accounted for 91% of COVID-19 deaths.
| Number of deaths due to COVID-19 between March 2020 and February 2022 classified by place of occurrence | |
| Place of occurrence | Number of deaths due to COVID-19 |
| General & Orthopaedic Hospitals | 3,176 |
| Psychiatric Hospitals | 12 |
| Private Hospitals | 106 |
| Community Hospitals | 183 |
| Maternity Hospitals | – |
| Paediatric Hospitals | – |
| Oncology Hospitals | 1 |
| Nursing Homes | 1,564 |
| Hospices | 57 |
| Domiciliary | 257 |
| Elsewhere | 28 |
This Frontier Series Output presents the results of an analysis of deaths due to COVID-19 which occurred in Ireland between 01 March 2020 and 28 February 2022 and have been registered with the General Register Office (GRO) and subsequently notified to the Central Statistics Office (CSO) by 31 May 2022.
The analysis focuses on deaths where COVID-19 was found to have been the underlying cause of death (UCOD). A death certificate may list multiple causes of death, based on which the UCOD is identified by applying specific guidelines from the World Health Organization (see Background Notes). A death due to COVID-19 differs from a death with COVID-19 in that COVID-19 is identified as the underlying cause of death in the former but not in the latter. In deaths between March 2020 and February 2022, COVID-19 was identified as the underlying cause of death in 5,384 cases.
While the CSO regularly publishes statistics on the underlying causes of death in Ireland, this Frontier Series Output focuses specifically on deaths due to COVID-19. This analysis classifies COVID-19 deaths by place of death, area of residence, age group, and the number of causes on the death certificate.
The analysis of COVID-19 deaths by place of occurrence shows that:
See Figure 1 for details.
The analysis of COVID-19 deaths by area of residence shows that:
See Table 1 and Map 1 for all areas of residence.
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (04 August 2022) released a Frontier Series Output focusing specifically on deaths due to COVID-19 occurring in Ireland between 01 March 2020 and 28 February 2022.
Commenting on the release, Gerard Doolan, Statistician in the Vital Statistics Division, said: "This analysis classifies COVID-19 deaths by place of death, area of residence, and age group. In deaths between March 2020 and February 2022, COVID-19 was identified as the underlying cause of death (UCOD) in 5,384 cases. (See Editor's Note below for more detail.)
County Dublin recorded the highest number of COVID-19 deaths with 1,883 lives lost between March 2020 and February 2022. County Dublin accounted for 35% of all such deaths nationally, while Leitrim had the lowest number of all such deaths at 26 or 0.5%. (See Table 1)
In terms of the place of death, 59% of all COVID-19 deaths occurred in general and orthopaedic hospitals, 29% in nursing homes, and 4.8% of deaths occurred in the deceased person's home. (See Figure 1)
Analysis from an age perspective shows that 42% of COVID-19 deaths occurred in persons aged 85 and over, 75% in persons aged 75 and over, and 91% in persons aged 65 and over."