Switzerland has mastered the corona crisis quite well so far. At least that’s what the German news magazine thinks “The mirror”, which ranks Switzerland ninth out of 154 countries examined. The winner is Finland with an overall grade of 1.75 (best grade 1).
The number of corona deaths or excess mortality is central to the comparison. However, the restrictions on public life, the deviation from the GDP forecast and the rate of people vaccinated at least once were also examined.
Large spread in Europe
In terms of excess mortality, Switzerland ranks 15th. In Europe, the spread of excess mortality is extreme, the continent seems to be divided into two parts – as it once did into East and West. Many formerly socialist countries fare noticeably worse than the west and north.
In addition to Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Russia are among the worst-affected countries in the world with an excess mortality rate of over 400 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. In Switzerland this value is 93.
Democracies do better
Many of the Eastern Europeans initially got through the first wave relatively unscathed thanks to tough lockdowns in the past, but were particularly hard hit in the second and third waves because they reacted late or hardly at all. They now have more deaths per inhabitant than Italy, which was hit early by the pandemic.
In Europe, there is also a connection between democracy and excess mortality. Most people died in less democratic countries in Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The numbers were particularly high in Russia and Belarus.
Well done economically
Compared to other countries, Switzerland is economically well managed through the crisis. In terms of the deviation from the GDP forecast, Switzerland and Sweden take the top spot in Europe (- 4.2 percent). However, this is due to not overly restrictive measures, which in turn led to many deaths.
For many countries that do not provide reliable figures, the Spiegel editorial team relies on estimates. Der Spiegel also doubts the number of corona deaths worldwide, which is currently officially four million. According to a calculation by the “Economist”, this number could be three times as large! (gf)