Sweden - Mortality Rate
There was no need to destroy our economies & freedoms
The debate around lockdowns, vaccinations, masks and which countries did it better than another rage on but Sweden was always at the centre of the debate.
Lockdowns
Sweden generally held off on lockdowns and relied more on each citizen to be responsible and make their own decision regarding any Covid restrictions. And as such was held up as a control group against the rest of the world.
One of the biggest criticisms of Sweden was its high mortality rate compared to other Nordic countries, not other countries eg in Europe, that had higher mortality rates.
A recent Tweet using Economist data showed that Sweden did better than previously thought with the lowest mortality rate in 2021. I was asked to verify the data but it wasn’t accurately portrayed but what it did show was Sweden actually fared pretty well without the economic destruction and suppression of democracy that the rest of the world enacted.
Figure 1 Heat Map of Excess Mortality per 100,000 for 4 Nordic Countries in 2021
Fig.1 Shows the excess deaths for Finland (1), Denmark (2), Sweden (3), & Norway (4).
In order of highest death rate - Finland (1) - to lowest death rate - Norway (4). Sweden was 2nd from bottom.
Sweden had a low mortality rate and didn’t destroy its economy and democracy
Figure 2 Graph of Excess Mortality per 100,000 for 4 Nordic Countries in 2021
Fig. 2 Shows the excess mortality for 4 Nordic countries using the closest, matched Economist data for 2021. Sweden was 2nd from bottom.
Who’d’ve thought: all that destruction of freedom wasn’t really necessary, then…