EPW Journal Article - Estimating the Impact of COVID-19 in India from Life Insurance Claims

Document Details
AUTHOR Mihir Mahajan, Shekhar Sathe
DATEMay 21, 2022
CATEGORIES Public Policy

Abstract

The data on the death claims settled by Indian life insurers is used to estimate the impact of Covid-19 in India in 2020 and 2021. A conservative estimate of 0.56 million missing death registrations is reported for 2020. An estimate of three million additional deaths in 2021compared to pre-pandemic year 2019 is also reported. This estimate far exceeds the government’s official estimate of 0.481 million Covid-19 deaths during this period.