Quebec’s statistics agency is reporting that the number of deaths in the province jumped 10 per cent last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Institut de la statistique du Québec noted today in its report that 74,550 people died last year in Quebec, which is 6,750 more than in 2019.
It says it’s normal for the number of deaths to rise every year because of Quebec’s growing and aging population, but considers a jump of this magnitude to be exceptional.
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The number of deaths had risen by about two per cent per year between 2010 and 2019.
The institute says the rise in deaths is linked to the pandemic because the jump is most pronounced between the end of March and the beginning of June, during the height of the first wave of COVID-19.
Incomplete data on the number of marriages that took place last year indicated a significant drop compared with 2019.