New study reveals the number of children orphaned by COVID-19 in Spain

MORE than 2,300 children in Spain lost a parent during the first 14 months of the coronavirus pandemic, a new study has revealed.

The figures from Spain were included in a global study on orphanhood published in The Lancet that calculated that more than a million children around the world have lost either their mother or father to Covid-19.

And if you include those who have lost someone in their circle who regularly cars for them,, either a parent, a grandparent who helped care for them or another relative responsible for their care, then the figure shoots up to over 1.5 million children.

“1,562,000 children experienced the death of at least one primary or secondary caregiver,” the report stated.

Researchers warned that children who lose a parent or caregiver are not only immediately stressed; they are also more likely to suffer diseases themselves, to be abused, and to suffer poverty.

Of all the countries included in the study those in western Europe had the lowest rates of children orphaned by Covid. Spain equalled France and Italy where 3 in every 10,000 children lost a parent.

According to the data, 73% of those to lose a parent lost their father while 27% lost a mother.

The number of children to lose both parents were almost none, according to the data which studied mortality figures due to COVID-19 between March 1, 2020 and April 30 2020.

Spain’s official death toll according to the latest data published by the Ministry of Health stands at 81,148.