QUEBEC CITY -- Overall deaths in Quebec jumped 10 per cent in 2020, according to a new report from Statistics Institute of Quebec.

Quebec reported 74,550 deaths last year, 6,750 more than the previous year.

The institute says there is usually a yearly increase of deaths due to the province’s growing, aging population.

But, between 2010 and 2019, the average annual increase was around 2 per cent.

The institute called the 10 per cent jump in one year "an exception."

Of course, 2020 was an exceptional year, and the increase in deaths is a result of the pandemic, which hit Quebec harder than other provinces in Canada, specifically between the end of March and the beginning of June.

Last fall, the number of deaths recorded each week in Quebec from all causes was significantly higher than the same period in the previous ten years.

-- this report from the Canadian Press was first published on Jan 28, 2021.