What day do people die the most in France? This is a question that may seem incongruous, but which was the subject of a very serious study by INSEE, published last October. For twenty years, January 3 has been the day with the most deaths in France..
From 2004 to 2023, there will be an average of 1,900 deaths on January 3, compared to 1,600 for the whole year. How to explain this figure? Several hypotheses are put forward.
First of all, January 3 is a winter day after the end of year celebrations. Christmas is the celebration of the New Year are often times of joy and reunion, spent with family. Thus, on Christmas Day, mortality is lower than average.
“The desire to spend these holidays with loved ones, as well as the desire to reach a new year, could delay the occurrence of death of people at the end of life and partly explain this peak,” the report speculates.
Fewer deaths on public holidays
The other hypothesis is that January 3 marks the resumption of surgical operations.
More generally, during public holidays, when few operations are scheduled, there are fewer deaths.
Conversely, August 15with an average of 1,410 deaths over the last 20 years, is the day with the fewest deaths. In the same idea, the day of the week on which we count the fewer deaths are on Sunday.
Beware of “birthday syndrome”
If you were born on January 3, be careful, “The risk of dying on your birthday is higher than any other day of the year.” This phenomenon is called the “birthday effect” or “birthday syndrome” and also concerns other countries such as Switzerland or the United States.
This excess mortality can be explained by party-related excesses, such as excessive alcohol consumption. Furthermore, the date of one's birthday is a symbolic date and can explain a higher number of suicides on that day.
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