All-cause deaths boosted by 8.9% in Japan in 2022

Our friends at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) finally released the demographic data for December about a week later than scheduled. And after seeing the 18.2% year-on-year increase in December deaths, I can see why they weren’t in a rush.

All-cause deaths. Blue: 2021. Red: 2022 (obviously)

Unlike daily Covid case numbers, the media doesn’t bother reporting monthly mortality numbers. But the Nikkei has reported the annual number of deaths was 8.9% (129,744) higher in 2022 than 2021 (1,582,033 vs 1,452,289).

“All-cause deaths greatly increased in 2022”

In 2022, Japan reported only about 39,000 Covid deaths. Leaving aside the liberal way those deaths are counted, what else was killing the Japanese in greater numbers last year? Back to the Nikkei.

Compared to the previous year, the number of deaths from all causes from January to September 2022 released by the MHLW increased by about 81,000 people overall. Of these, about 15,000 died from coronavirus, about 17,000 from cardiovascular disease, and about 18,000 from old age. By age group, most of those who died from cardiovascular disease or old age were in their 80s or older.

So why are more elderly seeing their hearts give in and their aging process speed up? Let’s ask the experts!

Infectious disease experts released their views on the increase in deaths on February 22. They speculated that, "The number of patients who died from causes other than Covid-19 may have increased due to the worsening of their general condition after being infected with the coronavirus".

In other words, the experts think Japan may have had tens of thousands of cryptic Covid deaths last year. So what will the Japanese government do to prevent such deaths in 2023? Offer the elderly two more Covid jabs!

Those will be 6th and 7th shots for the majority of over 65s. Let’s see how long they can keep going for.