OBJECTIVES: To calculate the life years lost and their associated economic impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in nine European countries (England&Wales, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden).

METHODS: COVID-19 deaths, life expectancy, and population from each country were obtained from national databases and grouped by sex and age (0-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70-79, and ≥80). Age-sex specific life years lost (LYL) were calculated as the number of deaths multiplied by the life expectancy in each country. To measure the economic lost, we compared the GDP during the first 2 quarters of 2020 in two scenarios (with/without COVID-19 pandemic). For the first, we used the reductions in GDP reported by the OECD for each country; and for the second we assumed an annual GDP growth equal to that in 2019. In order to obtain comparable results, purchasing power parity (PPP) data was used. League tables were created to assess the impact of the pandemic in every country.

RESULTS: England&Wales had the highest impact in terms of life years lost, with a total of 2,148,184 LYL, meaning 73.53LYL/1,000 persons. Norway is the least affected country, with 4.13/LYL/1000 persons. The impact in the GDP per capita was higher in Spain, England&Wales, and France (decrease ranging 12.86-12.68%) and lower in Sweden, Germany and Norway(decrease ranging 7.81-7.06%), When calculating the cost per LYL by PPP, Norway was the country with the highest cost (861,605.08€), followed by Germany (376,986.15€). Contrarily, the countries with the lowest cost/LYL were Sweden (75.276.70€) and England&Wales (67,576.23€).

CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 pandemic entailed a high cost for the European countries, both in the LYL and the economic impact, being the number of deaths the main driver of the cost/LYL.