Mortality in Belarus During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The author analyzes the influence of demographic factors on the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. The basis of the analysis is the use of the Big Data methodology. The influence and consequences of urbanization, migration, demographic structure, and information sources on the state and prospects of mortality are considered. The article provides an analysis of the state of mortality processes in the Republic of Belarus for the period 1990-2019, and shows the influence of the coronavirus pandemic on the state of mortality processes and demographic losses in the Republic of Belarus in 2020. The association of the spread of COVID-19, migration and its consequences with the process of urbanization and the growth of agglomerations is revealed. The article formulates the position on the dominance of various types of migration in the spread of viral diseases. Various types of international migration are the carriers of the covid pandemic. The article describes the relationship of the Belarusian labor migration to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Within the country, the carriers of the virus and the magnitude of the incidence are associated with the pendulum and, above all, with labor migration. The article presents comparable information on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Belarus in comparison with the countries bordering it – Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The article substantiates the position on the influence of changes in the age structure of the population on the dynamics of total mortality. The influence of the coronavirus pandemic on the structure of causes of death was studied. The obvious and latent consequences of the coronavirus pandemic on demographic processes and their underlying factors are revealed. The conclusion is made about the trends and the state of total mortality in Belarus in the future.