They said my app already has install stats and therefore cannot be deleted

I'm wondering if the evil solution is to update the app in such a way that it no longer complies with the rules and get yourself banned from the app store. Although that has other risks to your other google accounts.

Doesn't has to be evil, dropping support for newer androids (9.0 and up) is an easy way to get apps delisted.

So if I release an app on the Play Store I have to support it forever? That sounds unreasonable.

No, there is no requirement to support the software, at least according to what we've heard here. Simply that you can't remove your current rev from the store - you can't prevent people from downloading it.

That's a bit misleading. You can unpublish the app[0], which hides it in the Play Store and prevents new installs. It just doesn't remove the app from the people who already have the app installed, and I think they'll be able to install it on new phones.

I don't know why the OP is choosing not to unpublish the app.

[0] https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

Unpublishing the app doesn’t remove you from having to comply with address requirement.

Yes, but it would mitigate the issue almost completely since the app (and thus the address) would not be discoverable by new users.

...and yet it was enough not to verify my account (which I didn't do because it included consenting to my address being shown) to get it removed with all its apps.