Sweden has had fewer deaths in the pandemic than the majority of Europe

Source: Daily Mail

Sweden has logged one of the lowest pandemic death tolls in Europe despite its refusal to impose lockdowns, World Health Organization estimates suggest.

In the most comprehensive look into the pandemic's fatality count yet, the WHO estimated that almost 15million deaths were logged from the start of 2020 to the end of 2021 - nearly three times higher than the official count.

But Sweden, which became an international outlier when it refused to follow the rest of the world in shutting down society to limit the virus' spread, logged a lower death rate than many European nations that imposed strict curbs.

Sweden relied on citizens' sense of civic duty to protect the population, claiming lockdowns were neither 'necessary' or 'defensible'.

Authorities advised residents to practice social distancing, however schools, bars and restaurants remained open.

Out of the 194 countries that the WHO looked at, Sweden ranked 101st with a death rate of 56 per 100,000 people, well below the average of 90.

For comparison, the UK logged 109 deaths per 100,000, while Spain saw 111 and Germany recorded 116.

However, Sweden performed worse than its Scandinavian neighbors, with Denmark logging just 32 excess deaths per 100,000 and Norway logging one fewer death per 100,000 than expected.

Experts told MailOnline Sweden's approach led to 'much better' outcomes than predicted and compared to most of Western Europe.

But they noted that the excess death rate in other Nordic countries — which logged some of the lowest fatality tolls in the world — needs to be further studied to understand why.