2,102 people in Singapore have died of Covid-19

Senior Social Affairs Correspondent There have been 2,102 Covid-19 deaths here since the start of the pandemic in 2020 to June 2024, the Ministry of Health (MOH) told The Straits Times a figure that public health experts describe as low.

- Theresa Tan

While the experts say Singapore has done well in the fight against Covid-19, the pandemic nevertheless pushed up the age-standardised death rate - an indicator that allows for a fair comparison of mortality rates over time as it removes the effect of a rapidly ageing population.

Singapore's age-standardised death rate rose to a high of 5.9 per 1,000 resident population in 2022, up from 5.2 in 2020 and 5.6 in 2021.

In 2023, it went back down to 5.6.

The MOH gave ST data on Covid-19 deaths in response to questions on the sharp increases in the total number of deaths over the past few years.

A total of 26,888 people died last year, just 0.01 per cent lower than the 26,891 deaths in 2022, based on the Report on Registration of Births and Deaths 2023 published by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority in July.

The 2023 figure was 10.7 per cent higher than the 24,292 deaths in 2021. In 2020, 22,054 people died.

An MOH spokeswoman said: "To observe mortality trends over time, age-standardised death rates are used instead of absolute numbers of deaths, as they remove the effect of changing population structure, such as that caused by an ageing population."

From 2013 to 2020, the age-standardised death rates fell despite the absolute number of deaths increasing due to Singapore's ageing population, the spokeswoman said. For example, the age-standardised death rate was 6.1 per 1,000 resident population in 2013, but fell almost year on year to 5.2 per 1,000 resident population in 2020.

Meanwhile, the absolute number of deaths rose steadily year on year from 18,938 deaths in 2013 to 22,054 deaths in 2020.

The MOH spokeswoman said the falling age-standardised death rates were likely due to "our preventive health efforts, earlier diagnosis and better treatment of diseases".