Excess mortality of the population in 2020-2021

The proposed article is based on the methodology of determining population reproduction and mortality primarily by socio-economic factors. This article begins a series of papers that will be devoted to the study of the factors of total and excess mortality in 2020-2021 in the countries of the world and the Russian Federation. The article proposes a method for analyzing excess mortality in the population during the COVID-19 pandemic, called by the author “covid mortality multiplier (СMM)”. This methodology is based on the hypothesis that the coronavirus is not only a direct cause of human death, but also causes a chain reaction of premature deaths in society caused by the overload of the health infrastructure, limited financial, human, medical and technological resources. The purpose of the article is to review the available publications on the problem of excess mortality from the coronavirus pandemic and to justify the possibilities of using the SMM multiplier index in this area of research. A review of the scientific literature, operational data and statistical publications on the issues of mortality from the COVID-19 pandemic and its medical, social, and economic consequences is made. The calculations of excess mortality made by the author for the period from the beginning of the pandemic to March 2021 are presented. The main directions of using the СMM methodology are proposed.