AustraliaThe country’s top actuarial body has asked the government to urgently investigate the country’s “unbelievably high” death rate of 13% in 2022.

What happened?: An analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data through the Institute for Actuaries showed that another 15,400 people died in the country in the first eight months of the year.

Actuaries said that number includes about a third of those who have no connection COVID-19.

See also: Facebook and Google parents have struck over 30 deals with media companies after law made them pay for news, Australia says

13% is an “incredibly high figure for mortality” and it’s “not clear” what’s driving the increase, he said Karen SchneiderSpokesperson for the Institute’s Covid-19 Mortality Working Group.

“Mortality doesn’t usually vary by more than 1 to 2%, so 13% is much higher than normal,” she said.

“I’m not aware [of anything comparable] in the recent past, but I haven’t gone back and checked [historically]. They say the 2017 flu season was really bad and the mortality there was 1% higher than normal. So it’s way outside of the normal range,” she said.

This comes after Australia’s latest mortality data, released in November, showed there had been 128,797 deaths from January 1 to August 31, 17% higher than the historical average.

This story was originally published on December 7th, 2022.

Learn more about Benzinga’s coverage in Europe and Asia at the following this link.