In 2018 there were over 40 thousand deaths caused by ischaemic heart diseases in the United Kingdom, making it the leading cause of death in that year. Since 2001 there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people dying from dementia or alzheimers, which caused 26.5 thousand deaths in 2018, an increase of almost ten thousand when compared with 2012.

Registered leading causes of death by age, sex and country, UK, 2001 to 2018

Mortality from leading causes of death by ethnic group, England and Wales, 2012 to 2019.

The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) has updated the mortality profile.

The profile brings together a selection of mortality indicators, including from other OHID data tools such as the https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/public-health-outcomes-framework/data" class="govuk-link">Public Health Outcomes Framework, making it easier to assess outcomes across a range of causes of death.

For the March 2023 update, 12 new indicators have been added to the profile:

• mortality rate for deaths due to COVID-19, all ages
• under 75 mortality rate for deaths due to COVID-19
• mortality rate from all cardiovascular diseases, all ages
• mortality rate from heart disease, all ages
• mortality rate from stroke, all ages
• mortality rate from cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from breast cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from colorectal cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from liver disease, all ages
• mortality rate from respiratory disease, all ages
• under 75 mortality rate from lung cancer
• mortality rate from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, all ages

If you would like to send us feedback on the tool please contact pha-ohid@dhsc.gov.uk.

In 1948, over a quarter of deaths recorded in England and Wales were caused by heart disease. The National Health Service was founded in this year in the UK and aimed at improving the health of British citizens.

Annual data on death registrations by single year of age for the UK (1974 onwards) and England and Wales (1963 onwards).

Annual age-standardised and age-specific mortality rates by leading causes of death for England and Wales, 2001 to 2018 (Experimental Statistics)

There were 11,052 deaths registered in England and Wales for the week ending June 13, 2025, compared with 11,053 in the previous week. During this time period, the two weeks with the highest number of weekly deaths were in April 2020, with the week ending April 17, 2020, having 22,351 deaths, and the following week 21,997 deaths, a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. Death and life expectancy As of 2022, the life expectancy for women in the UK was just over 82.5 years, and almost 78.6 years for men. Compared with 1765, when average life expectancy was under 39 years, this is a huge improvement in historical terms. Even in the more recent past, life expectancy was less than 47 years at the start of the 20th Century, and was under 70 as recently as the 1950s. Despite these significant developments in the long-term, improvements in life expectancy stalled between 2009/11 and 2015/17, and have even gone into decline since 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, for example, life expectancy at birth fell by 23 weeks for females, and 37 weeks for males. COVID-19 in the UK The first cases of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom were recorded on January 31, 2020, but it was not until a month later that cases began to rise exponentially. By March 5 of this year there were more than 100 cases, rising to 1,000 days later and passing 10,000 cumulative cases by March 26. At the height of the pandemic in late April and early May, there were around six thousand new cases being recorded daily. As of January 2023, there were more than 24.2 million confirmed cumulative cases of COVID-19 recorded in the United Kingdom, resulting in 202,156 deaths.

In 2023, the age-specific death rate for men aged 90 or over in England and Wales was 248.1 per one thousand population, and 215.1 for women. Except for infants that were under the age of one, younger age groups had the lowest death rate, with the death rate getting progressively higher in older age groups.

Leading causes of death by age group and sex

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: Official Statistics not designated as National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Mortality

United Kingdom UK: Cause of Death: by Communicable Diseases & Maternal, Prenatal & Nutrition Conditions: % of Total data was reported at 7.700 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 8.000 % for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Cause of Death: by Communicable Diseases & Maternal, Prenatal & Nutrition Conditions: % of Total data is updated yearly, averaging 7.850 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 4 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 11.800 % in 2000 and a record low of 7.300 % in 2010. United Kingdom UK: Cause of Death: by Communicable Diseases & Maternal, Prenatal & Nutrition Conditions: % of Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Cause of death refers to the share of all deaths for all ages by underlying causes. Communicable diseases and maternal, prenatal and nutrition conditions include infectious and parasitic diseases, respiratory infections, and nutritional deficiencies such as underweight and stunting.; ; Derived based on the data from WHO's Global Health Estimates.; Weighted average;

Annual data on deaths registered by age, sex and selected underlying cause of death. Tables also provide both mortality rates and numbers of deaths over time.

The percentage of extra deaths that occurred due to winter, including those that had COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate. The Excess Winter Mortality (EWM) index is calculated as the number of excess winter deaths divided by the average non-winter deaths, expressed as a percentage. Calculated so that comparisons can be made between sexes, age groups, and regions.

An EWM index of 20 shows that there were 20 percent more deaths in winter compared with the non-winter period. Provisional figures at country and region level are produced for the most recent winter using estimation methods, and so are rounded to the nearest 100 deaths. Data post 2019/20 should be treated with caution due to high numbers of deaths from COVID-19 in the summer period.

For data years 2020/21 onwards, instances where the number of winter deaths compared to non-winter deaths were equal to zero or a negative value, an EWM index is presented. (For earlier years, the EWM index was removed). A zero value for winter deaths compared to non-winter deaths is often affected by rounding, so in these instances, the winter mortality index can either be a positive or negative value. A negative winter mortality index means there were a higher number of deaths in the non-winter periods than the winter period.

Alternatively, figures are available for deaths excluding COVID-19, calculated using all-cause deaths that did not have COVID-19 mentioned on the death certificate.

Data is Powered by LG Inform Plus and automatically checked for new data on the 3rd of each month.

Provisional deaths registration data for single year of age and average age of death (median and mean) of persons whose death involved coronavirus (COVID-19), England and Wales. Includes deaths due to COVID-19 and breakdowns by sex.

UK: Mortality from CVD, Cancer, Diabetes or CRD between Exact Ages 30 and 70: Female data was reported at 9.000 NA in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 9.200 NA for 2015. UK: Mortality from CVD, Cancer, Diabetes or CRD between Exact Ages 30 and 70: Female data is updated yearly, averaging 9.800 NA from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 5 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.900 NA in 2000 and a record low of 9.000 NA in 2016. UK: Mortality from CVD, Cancer, Diabetes or CRD between Exact Ages 30 and 70: Female data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Mortality from CVD, cancer, diabetes or CRD is the percent of 30-year-old-people who would die before their 70th birthday from any of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, or chronic respiratory disease, assuming that s/he would experience current mortality rates at every age and s/he would not die from any other cause of death (e.g., injuries or HIV/AIDS).; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

This publication of the SHMI relates to discharges in the reporting period February 2022 - January 2023. The SHMI is the ratio between the actual number of patients who die following hospitalisation at the trust and the number that would be expected to die on the basis of average England figures, given the characteristics of the patients treated there. The SHMI covers patients admitted to hospitals in England who died either while in hospital or within 30 days of being discharged. Deaths related to COVID-19 are excluded from the SHMI. To help users of the data understand the SHMI, trusts have been categorised into bandings indicating whether a trust's SHMI is 'higher than expected', 'as expected' or 'lower than expected'. For any given number of expected deaths, a range of observed deaths is considered to be 'as expected'. If the observed number of deaths falls outside of this range, the trust in question is considered to have a higher or lower SHMI than expected. The expected number of deaths is a statistical construct and is not a count of patients. The difference between the number of observed deaths and the number of expected deaths cannot be interpreted as the number of avoidable deaths or excess deaths for the trust. The SHMI is not a measure of quality of care. A higher than expected number of deaths should not immediately be interpreted as indicating poor performance and instead should be viewed as a 'smoke alarm' which requires further investigation. Similarly, an 'as expected' or 'lower than expected' SHMI should not immediately be interpreted as indicating satisfactory or good performance. Trusts may be located at multiple sites and may be responsible for 1 or more hospitals. A breakdown of the data by site of treatment is also provided, as well as a breakdown of the data by diagnosis group. Further background information and supporting documents, including information on how to interpret the SHMI, are available on the SHMI homepage (see Related Links). Information about the exclusion of COVID-19 from the SHMI can also be found on the same page. A link to the methodological changes statement which details the exclusion is also available in the Related Links section

There were 2,784 infant deaths in the United Kingdom in 2021, compared with 2,620 in the previous year. The number of infant deaths in 2020 was the fewest in the provided time period, especially compared with 1900 when there were 163,470 infant deaths.