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.

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

There were 10,075 deaths registered in England and Wales for the week ending June 27, 2025, compared with 10,411 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.

Number of deaths registered by year, sex, area of usual residence and Office for National Statistics (ONS) shortlist of cause of death code

Mortality from hypertensive disease (ICD-10 I10-I15 equivalent to ICD-9 401-405). To reduce deaths from hypertensive disease. Legacy unique identifier: P00280

There were 667,479 deaths in the United Kingdom in 2021, compared with 689,629 in 2020. Between 2003 and 2011, the annual number of deaths in the UK fell from 612,085 to just over 552,232. Since 2011 however, the annual number of annual deaths in the United Kingdom has steadily grown, with the number recorded in 2020, the highest since 1918 when there were 715,246 deaths. Both of these spikes in the number of deaths can be attributed to infectious disease pandemics. The great influenza pandemic of 1918, which was at its height towards the end of World War One, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused a large number of deaths in 2020.  Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic The weekly death figures for England and Wales highlight the tragic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. In two weeks in April of 2020, there were 22,351 and 21,997 deaths respectively, almost 12,000 excess deaths in each of those weeks. Although hospitals were the most common location of these deaths, a significant number of these deaths also took place in care homes, with 7,911 deaths taking place in care homes for the week ending April 24, 2020, far higher than usual. By the summer of 2020, the number of deaths in England and Wales reached more usual levels, before a second wave of excess deaths hit the country in early 2021. Although subsequent waves of COVID-19 cases resulted in far fewer deaths, the number of excess deaths remained elevated throughout 2022. Long-term life expectancy trends As of 2022 the life expectancy for men in the United Kingdom was 78.57, and almost 82.57 for women, compared with life expectancies of 75 for men and 80 for women in 2002. In historical terms, this is a major improvement in relation to the mid 18th century, when the overall life expectancy was just under 39 years. Between 2011 and 2017, improvements in life expectancy in the UK did start to decline, and have gone into reverse since 2018/20. Between 2020 and 2022 for example, life expectancy for men in the UK has fallen by over 37 weeks, and by almost 23 weeks for women, when compared with the previous year.

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.

Mortality from infectious and parasitic disease (ICD-10 A00-B99 equivalent to ICD-9 001-139). To reduce deaths from infectious and parasitic disease. Legacy unique identifier: P00476

In 2022, the mortality rate of coronary heart disease in the United Kingdom was *** deaths per 100,000 population, which was one of the lowest rates in the provided time interval. The mortality rate in 2000 was *** per 100,000, meaning the mortality rate has decreased by over ** percent since then. Decline in CVD mortality Alongside the fall in mortality rate from coronary heart disease, deaths overall from cardiovascular diseases have fallen since the start of the century. In 2022, there were *** deaths per 100,000 from cardiovascular diseases in the UK, a decline of about ** percent since 2000. Furthermore, mortality from strokes has decreased by almost ** percent between 2000 and 2022. Incidence of CVD staying at similar levels The decline in the mortality of cardiovascular diseases shows the advances of modern medicine, as the incidence of these diseases has not varied much in the past few years. In 2022/23, around *** thousand people in the UK were diagnosed with coronary heart disease, a fall of ** thousand since 2012. However, *** thousand individuals were diagnosed with a stroke, an increase of over ** thousand when compared with 2012.

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

This statistic describes the percent distribution of disability-adjusted life-years in the United Kingdom among persons aged under ** as of 2012, by condition and disease. Cardiovascular diseases contributed to **** of all DALYs among those under 70 years of age. People with mental health problems have been found to have higher rates of physical illnesses than the general population. Mental health can cost up to ** billion pounds per year and is listed as one of the most common reasons to claim disability benefits in Britain.

Disability-adjusted life-years

Mental health disorders and cancers are among the highest in terms of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) in the United Kingdom as of 2012 leading to **** DALYs and **** DALYs, respectively. DALYs are calculated by combining the years of life lost due to premature mortality and the years lost due to disability caused by the condition. In high-income countries, chronic diseases contribute to high DALY values. For example, cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide at **** million deaths in 2012. Chronic diseases can create indirect costs that can be a major hindrance in low-income families. Reduced income from loss of productivity, forgoing earnings from those that must care for the patient, and potential lost opportunity in young family members who leave school to care for the ill or to help household economy are indirect costs that chronic diseases can incur.

Neuropsychiatric conditions account for almost ** percent of the global disease burden. However, this value is suspected to be much higher due to the complex relationships between physical and mental illness. It is also quite common for those with mental health disorders to be experiencing more than one disorder. People living in Alabama and California have some of the highest levels of poor mental health in the country, at **** percent and **** percent of the population reporting this condition, respectively, as of 2012. In the United States, *** percent of individuals between 55 and 64 years of age have reported experiencing serious psychological distress.