[ad_1]
Dalė, a Lazdijai resident, lost three family members last year:
“Two aunts. Uncle. That’s a lot. Definitely not due to accidents. About 80. I would say that people are older, with diseases. “
PHOTO GALLERY. Lazdijai district has the highest mortality in Lithuania
It was in the Lazdijai district that Lithuania had the highest death rate per 1,000 inhabitants last year. Also in the Ignalina and Anykščiai districts.
“Depending on the age of the population, 65 years or more dominate. It is obvious that people of this age suffer from certain chronic diseases, perhaps oncological or circulatory. It can be said that we exceed the Lithuanian indicator more than one and a half times”, he says Audrius Klėjus, Deputy Mayor of Lazdijai District.
However, last year the number of deaths increased significantly in Lithuania. Compared to 2019, there were 5,100 more deaths in the country. The increase is 13 percent. According to experts, the highest number of deaths in Lithuania since the 1990s was undoubtedly due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is both a direct effect when people die with that Covid-19 diagnosis and an indirect effect when medical services may have been lost,” says demographer Domantas Jasilionis.
“Especially in November-December, the number of deaths increased. More than 5,800 deaths were recorded in December. These indicators are worrying,” says Inga Masiulaitytė-Šukevič, representative of Statistics Lithuania.
However, high mortality is not the only indicator that worries demographers. Last year, a record number of babies were born in Lithuania.
“All social and political instability has a negative effect on birth rates. That is the effect here too, and I think it will happen in 2021 as well. In this way, the birth rate may also be lower due to the impact of the pandemic.” said sociologist Boguslav Gruževskis.
However, Asta, a Vilnius woman walking in the capital’s park with her daughter born half a year ago, says that when her coronavirus began to rage in Lithuania during her pregnancy, it was true, not because of the vague financial prospects, like many other families.
“Our work allows us to work remotely, it didn’t really affect us financially, we didn’t feel anything. I was a bit concerned about whether I would be allowed to be a man once during labor, ”says Asta from Vilnius.
Asta began planning for her family’s expansion with her husband long before the pandemic, so she was prepared for the challenges. However, if more than 31 thousand babies were born in the world in 2015, then last year there were 7,000 fewer births, a total of 24,500, and this is the lowest birth rate in the last 30 years.
“It is good that we have a daughter now, we are very happy and we regret that the statistics have dropped so much, well, but let’s hope that the pandemic passes soon and that boom increases again,” says Asta.
“If we look at the year 1990, when we had around 57 thousand. born, today we have 24 thousand. We have a double fall. And unfortunately, it won’t change these numbers so easily because we not only have fewer births, but also fewer women giving birth, ”says D. Jasilionis.
It is true that the sociologist Boguslav Gruzhevsky says that its indicators are not surprising.
“The very fact that since the restoration of Independence there are the highest death rates and the lowest birth rates, it is really very painful, but it is actually a regular process. We have a growing population. Therefore, in the future, wrong, but I must say that mortality will constantly increase, “said B. Gruževskis.
Experts emphasize that without state intervention, the demographic situation in Lithuania will continue to deteriorate.
“The bells are ringing, the bells are ringing here again. This is the place for us to simply start working and living as efficiently as possible, from the family level to the state,” says B. Gruževskis.
“We have reached a certain critical level, especially I would speak of childbirth. That policy must be that each child is dear to us and that it is necessary to provide the best conditions for each child to grow up, for parents to raise their children, ”says D. Jasilionis.
Eurostat has predicted that by 2050 Lithuania should have a population of around two million. So it is clear that you will have to rewrite the songs.
[ad_2]
