Provisional data on death registrations and death occurrences in England and Wales, broken down by sex and age. Includes deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and leading causes of death.

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

Excess Winter Deaths (EWD) by age and conditions (underlying cause of death) expressed as average per year based on 7 years pooled data, 2004-2011. EWD trend expressed as average per year based on 3 years data.

The Excess Winter Mortality Index (EWM Index was calculated based on the 'ONS Method' which defines the winter period as December to March, and the non-winter period as August to November of that same year and April to July of the following year.

This winter period was selected as they are the months which over the last 50 years have displayed above average monthly mortality. However, if mortality starts to increase prior to this, for example in November, the number of deaths in the non-winter period will increase, which in turn will decrease the estimate of excess winter mortality.

The EWM Index will be partly dependent on the proportion of older people in the population as most excess winter deaths effect older people (there is no standardisation in this calculation by age or any other factor).

Excess winter mortality is calculated as winter deaths (deaths occurring in December to March) minus the average of non-winter deaths (April to July of the current year and August to November of the previous year). The Excess winter mortality index is calculated as excess winter deaths divided by the average non-winter deaths, expressed as a percentage.

Relevant link: http://www.wmpho.org.uk/excesswinterdeathsinEnglandatlas/

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains information on deaths by age at death, in months, by birth month, sex and premises type in 2009 Attribution statement: © Rural Payments Agency

Live births by usual residence of mother, and General Fertility Rates (GFR), and Deaths and Standardised Mortality Ratio (SMR) by ward and local authority.

The births and deaths data comes from ONS Vital Statistics Table 4.
Small area data is only available directly from ONS under licence.

The general fertility rate (GFR) is the number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44.

SMR measures whether the population of an area has a higher or lower number of deaths than expected based on the age profile of the population (more deaths are expected in older populations). The SMR is defined as follows: SMR = (Observed no. of deaths per year)/(Expected no. of deaths per year).

Rates are provisional, they are based on the GLA 2011 based SHLAA ward projections (standard) released in January 2012. At national level, however, they are based on the mid-year population estimates.

More information is on the ONS website.

Provisional age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving COVID-19 by sex and month of death registration, for England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

United Kingdom UK: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data was reported at 9.100 Ratio in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 9.200 Ratio for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People data is updated yearly, averaging 11.300 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2016, with 57 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12.200 Ratio in 1963 and a record low of 8.700 Ratio in 2011. United Kingdom UK: Death Rate: Crude: per 1000 People 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: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Crude death rate indicates the number of deaths occurring during the year, per 1,000 population estimated at midyear. Subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate provides the rate of natural increase, which is equal to the rate of population change in the absence of migration.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) Census reports and other statistical publications from national statistical offices, (3) Eurostat: Demographic Statistics, (4) United Nations Statistical Division. Population and Vital Statistics Reprot (various years), (5) U.S. Census Bureau: International Database, and (6) Secretariat of the Pacific Community: Statistics and Demography Programme.; Weighted average;

Based on a comparison of coronavirus deaths in 210 countries relative to their population, Peru had the most losses to COVID-19 up until July 13, 2022. As of the same date, the virus had infected over 557.8 million people worldwide, and the number of deaths had totaled more than 6.3 million. Note, however, that COVID-19 test rates can vary per country. Additionally, big differences show up between countries when combining the number of deaths against confirmed COVID-19 cases. The source seemingly does not differentiate between "the Wuhan strain" (2019-nCOV) of COVID-19, "the Kent mutation" (B.1.1.7) that appeared in the UK in late 2020, the 2021 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) from India or the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) from South Africa.

The difficulties of death figures

This table aims to provide a complete picture on the topic, but it very much relies on data that has become more difficult to compare. As the coronavirus pandemic developed across the world, countries already used different methods to count fatalities, and they sometimes changed them during the course of the pandemic. On April 16, for example, the Chinese city of Wuhan added a 50 percent increase in their death figures to account for community deaths. These deaths occurred outside of hospitals and went unaccounted for so far. The state of New York did something similar two days before, revising their figures with 3,700 new deaths as they started to include “assumed” coronavirus victims. The United Kingdom started counting deaths in care homes and private households on April 29, adjusting their number with about 5,000 new deaths (which were corrected lowered again by the same amount on August 18). This makes an already difficult comparison even more difficult. Belgium, for example, counts suspected coronavirus deaths in their figures, whereas other countries have not done that (yet). This means two things. First, it could have a big impact on both current as well as future figures. On April 16 already, UK health experts stated that if their numbers were corrected for community deaths like in Wuhan, the UK number would change from 205 to “above 300”. This is exactly what happened two weeks later. Second, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly which countries already have “revised” numbers (like Belgium, Wuhan or New York) and which ones do not. One work-around could be to look at (freely accessible) timelines that track the reported daily increase of deaths in certain countries. Several of these are available on our platform, such as for Belgium, Italy and Sweden. A sudden large increase might be an indicator that the domestic sources changed their methodology.

Where are these numbers coming from?

The numbers shown here were collected by Johns Hopkins University, a source that manually checks the data with domestic health authorities. For the majority of countries, this is from national authorities. In some cases, like China, the United States, Canada or Australia, city reports or other various state authorities were consulted. In this statistic, these separately reported numbers were put together. For more information or other freely accessible content, please visit our dedicated Facts and Figures page.

United Kingdom UK: Mortality Rate: Adult: Female: per 1000 Female Adults data was reported at 53.693 Ratio in 2014. This records a decrease from the previous number of 53.890 Ratio for 2013. United Kingdom UK: Mortality Rate: Adult: Female: per 1000 Female Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 83.533 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2014, with 55 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 111.369 Ratio in 1963 and a record low of 53.693 Ratio in 2014. United Kingdom UK: Mortality Rate: Adult: Female: per 1000 Female Adults 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. Adult mortality rate, female, is the probability of dying between the ages of 15 and 60--that is, the probability of a 15-year-old female dying before reaching age 60, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year between those ages.; ; (1) United Nations Population Division. World Population Prospects: 2017 Revision. (2) University of California, Berkeley, and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research. The Human Mortality Database.; Weighted average;

Monthly death figures provide provisional counts of the number of deaths registered by area of usual residence, England and Wales. This publication has been discontinued and releases of provisional monthly data are now included within Monthly Figures on Deaths Registered by Area of Usual Residence, England and Wales so that all monthly data can be found in one place. The last edition published was August 2012. Source agency: Office for National Statistics Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: Monthly Deaths

The Public Health Research Database (PHRD) is a linked asset which currently includes Census 2011 data; Mortality Data; Hospital Episode Statistics (HES); GP Extraction Service (GPES) Data for Pandemic Planning and Research data. Researchers may apply for these datasets individually or any combination of the current 4 datasets.

The purpose of this dataset is to enable analysis of deaths involving COVID-19 by multiple factors such as ethnicity, religion, disability and known comorbidities as well as age, sex, socioeconomic and marital status at subnational levels. 2011 Census data for usual residents of England and Wales, who were not known to have died by 1 January 2020, linked to death registrations for deaths registered between 1 January 2020 and 8 March 2021 on NHS number. The data exclude individuals who entered the UK in the year before the Census took place (due to their high propensity to have left the UK prior to the study period), and those over 100 years of age at the time of the Census, even if their death was not linked. The dataset contains all individuals who died (any cause) during the study period, and a 5% simple random sample of those still alive at the end of the study period. For usual residents of England, the dataset also contains comorbidity flags derived from linked Hospital Episode Statistics data from April 2017 to December 2019 and GP Extraction Service Data from 2015-2019.

Provisional counts of the number of deaths registered in England and Wales, by age, sex, region and Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), in the latest weeks for which data are available.

The National Child Development Study (NCDS) is a continuing longitudinal study that seeks to follow the lives of all those living in Great Britain who were born in one particular week in 1958. The aim of the study is to improve understanding of the factors affecting human development over the whole lifespan.

The NCDS has its origins in the Perinatal Mortality Survey (PMS) (the original PMS study is held at the UK Data Archive under SN 2137). This study was sponsored by the National Birthday Trust Fund and designed to examine the social and obstetric factors associated with stillbirth and death in early infancy among the 17,000 children born in England, Scotland and Wales in that one week. Selected data from the PMS form NCDS sweep 0, held alongside NCDS sweeps 1-3, under SN 5565.

Survey and Biomeasures Data (GN 33004):
To date there have been nine attempts to trace all members of the birth cohort in order to monitor their physical, educational and social development. The first three sweeps were carried out by the National Children's Bureau, in 1965, when respondents were aged 7, in 1969, aged 11, and in 1974, aged 16 (these sweeps form NCDS1-3, held together with NCDS0 under SN 5565). The fourth sweep, also carried out by the National Children's Bureau, was conducted in 1981, when respondents were aged 23 (held under SN 5566). In 1985 the NCDS moved to the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) - now known as the Centre for Longitudinal Studies (CLS). The fifth sweep was carried out in 1991, when respondents were aged 33 (held under SN 5567). For the sixth sweep, conducted in 1999-2000, when respondents were aged 42 (NCDS6, held under SN 5578), fieldwork was combined with the 1999-2000 wave of the 1970 Birth Cohort Study (BCS70), which was also conducted by CLS (and held under GN 33229). The seventh sweep was conducted in 2004-2005 when the respondents were aged 46 (held under SN 5579), the eighth sweep was conducted in 2008-2009 when respondents were aged 50 (held under SN 6137) and the ninth sweep was conducted in 2013 when respondents were aged 55 (held under SN 7669).

Four separate datasets covering responses to NCDS over all sweeps are available. National Child Development Deaths Dataset: Special Licence Access (SN 7717) covers deaths; National Child Development Study Response and Outcomes Dataset (SN 5560) covers all other responses and outcomes; National Child Development Study: Partnership Histories (SN 6940) includes data on live-in relationships; and National Child Development Study: Activity Histories (SN 6942) covers work and non-work activities. Users are advised to order these studies alongside the other waves of NCDS.

From 2002-2004, a Biomedical Survey was completed and is available under End User Licence (EUL) (SN 8731) and Special Licence (SL) (SN 5594). Proteomics analyses of blood samples are available under SL SN 9254.

Linked Geographical Data (GN 33497):
A number of geographical variables are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies.

Linked Administrative Data (GN 33396):
A number of linked administrative datasets are available, under more restrictive access conditions, which can be linked to the NCDS EUL and SL access studies. These include a Deaths dataset (SN 7717) available under SL and the Linked Health Administrative Datasets (SN 8697) available under Secure Access.

Additional Sub-Studies (GN 33562):
In addition to the main NCDS sweeps, further studies have also been conducted on a range of subjects such as parent migration, unemployment, behavioural studies and respondent essays. The full list of NCDS studies available from the UK Data Service can be found on the NCDS series access data webpage.

How to access genetic and/or bio-medical sample data from a range of longitudinal surveys:
For information on how to access biomedical data from NCDS that are not held at the UKDS, see the CLS Genetic data and biological samples webpage.

Further information about the full NCDS series can be found on the Centre for Longitudinal Studies website.
The National Child Development Deaths Dataset, 1958-2014: Special Licence Access contains data on known deaths among members of the NCDS birth cohort from 1958 to 2013. Information on deaths has been taken from the records maintained by the organisations responsible for the study over the life time of the study: the National Birthday Trust Fund, the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), the Social Statistics Research Unit (SSRU) and the CLS. The information has been gleaned from a variety of sources, including death certificates and other information from the National Health Service Central Register (NHSCR), and from relatives and friends during survey activities and cohort maintenance work by telephone, letter and e-mail. It includes all deaths up to 31st December 2013. In only 6 cases are the date of death unknown. By the end of December 8.7 per cent of the cohort were known to have died.

The National Child Development Study Response and Outcomes Dataset, 1958-2013 (SN 5560) covers other responses and outcomes of the cohort members and should be used alongside this dataset.

For the 3rd edition (July 2018) an updated version of the data was deposited. The new edition includes data on known deaths among members of the National Child Development Study (NCDS) birth cohort up to 2016. The user guide has also been updated.

These datasets include all deaths registered in England and Wales for the time periods specified.

Data are supplied to ONS by the Local Registration Service, in partnership with the General Register Office (GRO). Coding for cause of death is carried out according to the World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and internationally agreed rules, allowing for international comparisons. Deaths registered in England and Wales to those usually resident outside of England and Wales are included. Deaths registered outside of England and Wales to those usually resident in England and Wales are excluded.

This data comprises the finalised annual Death Registration data which covers the period 1993-2019. For the latest Death Registration data (2020-2021), please see 'Death registration data - Provisional.'

Deaths by local authority of usual residence, numbers and standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) by sex.

SMR measures whether the population of an area has a higher or lower number of deaths than expected based on the age profile of the population (more deaths are expected in older populations). The SMR is defined as follows: SMR = (Observed no. of deaths per year)/(Expected no. of deaths per year).

SMRs are calculated using the previous year's mid-year population estimates. Live birth figures are used for calculations involving deaths under 1 year.

The age-standardised mortality rates in this release are directly age-standardised to the European Standard Population, which cover all ages and allows comparisons between populations with different age structures, including between males and females and over time.

Note: SMR and deaths by sex data only available since 2001.

Download from ONS website

This publication of the SHMI relates to discharges in the reporting period March 2023 - February 2024. 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. 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).

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Death Registrations in England and Wales, 1993-2022: Secure Access study includes annual data files for all deaths registered in England and Wales from 1993 to 2022. Death registration is a legal requirement under the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1836. The registration of deaths occurring in England and Wales is a service carried out by the Local Registration Service in partnership with the General Register Office (GRO). Information collected at death registration is recorded on the Registration Online (RON) system by registrars. The information supplied at the time of registration is from 1 of 4 sources:

1. details supplied by the doctor when certifying a death
2. details supplied by the informant to the registrar
3. details supplied by a coroner to the registrar following an investigation
4. details derived from the information supplied above

Death registration data are passed to the Office for National Statistics electronically from GRO for statistical purposes. Each annual dataset is a static file of death registration records available at the time the annual subset was closed. Revisions to records can still be made after the subset has been finalised but these will not be reflected in the annual dataset or used to compile statistics. The annual datasets include deaths that have been registered in that calendar year, a small percentage of these deaths may have occurred in previous years (2.9% in 2001 and 4.8% in 2015). Deaths to those usually resident in England or Wales who die abroad are not included in the dataset. Deaths registered in England and Wales to those whose usual residence is outside England and Wales are included.

Further information about mortality statistics is available from the Office for National Statistics deaths web page.

Prospective users will need to apply for access to this controlled access data via the UK Data Service Secure Lab. Further information is available on the Apply to Access Controlled Data in SecureLab web pages.

Latest edition information:
For the ninth edition (May 2024), the 2022 data file has been added to the study, along with the latest Mortality statistics in England and Wales QMI documentation file.

Main Topics:

Full details of the variables included are in the 'Deaths Variable Catalogue' and in 'Deaths Metadata' available from the Documentation section. Not all variables are available every year but the main areas covered include:

• registration details (date of registration)
• characteristics of the death (age, date of birth and gender of deceased, date of death, death certificate information, date last seen alive, manner of death, post-mortem information)
• cause of death variables for aged 28 days and over and for aged under 28 days (cause of death coded using International Classification of Diseases (ICD) using ICD9 for deaths from 1993-2000 and ICD10 for deaths from 2001-2020)
• marital status / spouse details (spouse age and date of birth)
• occupation, employment status and socio-economic classification
• place of death (communal establishment information, ICD place of accident and workplace codes)
• geography variables (country of residence, country of birth, country and postcode of usual residence, postcode of place of death)

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains a list of slaughterhouse deaths by age at death in months, birth month and sex Attribution statement: