Demographic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, Spain, Germany, and South Korea

Abstract

The COVID-19 Pandemic has become an object of many studies and research papers. Although knowledge of the demographic features of the illness could be important for targeting the prevention, or treatment and evaluation, of the situation, demographic research was rather limited in the initial phases of the pandemic. This paper aims to present the basic demographic aspects of the illness (age-specific and crude rates) and to estimate the effects of age-specific rates and age structures on the overall, generally used measures. For this analysis, Italy, Spain, Germany, and South Korea were selected. The most important differences among these countries were traced based on the age-specific measures and age structures. The demographic method of decomposition was used for the most crucial part of the analysis. It was proven that the level of incidence (particularly at higher ages) is noticeably significant regarding the observed differences. The effects of population age structure and the level of fatality are somewhat weaker.