Sweden has the highest mortality in the first 150 years in the first six months of this year, the national statistical office said on Wednesday.
By the end of June, the Covid-19 pandemic had claimed the lives of around 4,500 Swedes, a proportionally much higher mortality rate than in the rest of the Nordic countries.
In total, 51,405 people died in Sweden between January and June 2020, the highest mortality rate since 1989.
Mortality in Sweden in the first half of this year is about 10% higher than the average mortality rate over the last five years, but still lower than in the United Kingdom and Spain over the same period.
Sweden has been widely criticized for refusing to impose strict quarantine measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, and the total number of victims of Covid-19 has so far exceeded 5,800.
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