Excess Mortality in the Countries of Europe in the Early 21st Century, with Comparisons to the States of the United States

Layton Field, Texas A&M University

In the counties of the European countries is the greatest amount of natural decrease in the world. Yet, demographers know little about excess mortality in the counties of the countries of Europe. In this paper we use data from EUROSTAT for the circa 2000-10 time period and ascertain, country by country, the degree of natural decrease in their respective counties; we also consider the extent to which some the counties offset their excess mortality with gains via net migration. We also examine the effect of population size on natural decrease. For comparisons, we undertake companion analyses of natural decrease among the counties of the states of the U.S. One of our conclusions is that among the U.S. states there is a much greater opportunity for its natural decrease counties to offset the population losses via positive net migration than is the case among the European countries.