Number of excess deaths, including deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) and due to other causes. Including breakdowns by age, sex and geography.

Provisional data on excess mortality (excluding COVID-19) during heat-periods in the 65 years and over age group estimates in England, including the estimated number of deaths where the death occurred within 28 days of a positive COVID-19 result and the mean central England temperature.

For the week ending August 29, 2025, weekly deaths in England and Wales were 985 below the number expected, compared with 855 below what was expected in the previous week. In late 2022 and through early 2023, excess deaths were elevated for a number of weeks, with the excess deaths figure for the week ending January 13, 2023, the highest since February 2021. In the middle of April 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were almost 12,000 excess deaths a week recorded in England and Wales. It was not until two months later, in the week ending June 19, 2020, that the number of deaths began to be lower than the five-year average for the corresponding week. Most deaths since 1918 in 2020 In 2020, there were 689,629 deaths in the United Kingdom, making that year the deadliest since 1918, at the height of the Spanish influenza pandemic. As seen in the excess death figures, April 2020 was by far the worst month in terms of deaths during the pandemic. The weekly number of deaths for weeks 16 and 17 of that year were 22,351, and 21,997 respectively. Although the number of deaths fell to more usual levels for the rest of that year, a winter wave of the disease led to a high number of deaths in January 2021, with 18,676 deaths recorded in the fourth week of that year. For the whole of 2021, there were 667,479 deaths in the UK, 22,150 fewer than in 2020. Life expectancy in the UK goes into reverse In 2022, life expectancy at birth for women in the UK was 82.6 years, while for men it was 78.6 years. This was the lowest life expectancy in the country for ten years, and came after life expectancy improvements stalled throughout the 2010s, and then declined from 2020 onwards. There is also quite a significant regional difference in life expectancy in the UK. In the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea, for example, the life expectancy for men was 81.5 years, and 86.5 years for women. By contrast, in Blackpool, in North West England, male life expectancy was just 73.1 years, while for women, life expectancy was lowest in Glasgow, at 78 years.

Excess deaths occurring during heat-periods, including breakdowns by sex, age group, cause of death, place of occurrence and geography.

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.

Age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19), non-COVID-19 deaths and all deaths by vaccination status, broken down by age group.

There were 11,480 deaths registered in England and Wales for the week ending November 14, 2025, compared with 11,297 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 August 2025, there were 39,435 deaths in England and Wales, compared with 45,796 in July. In April 2020, there were 88,038 deaths, which was an increase of almost 40,000 from the month before and by far the month with the most deaths in this period. The dramatic increase in deaths in April can be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which first hit the UK in early 2020.

Data on excess death during the coronavirus pandemic in young people.

Provisional counts of the number of total deaths and deaths not involving the coronavirus (COVID-19), between 28 December 2019 and 10 July 2020. This includes deaths disaggregated by age and sex; by region of England, and Wales, and place of death; and for underlying causes of death and deaths involving leading causes.

The winter mortality index (WMI) is a measure expressed as a ratio of the difference in all cause mortality during winter months (December to March) compared to the average in the non winter months (the preceding August to November and following April to July).The terminology used to describe this indicator has changed to provide clearer explanation of what the analysis represents. The measures have been renamed to winter deaths compared to non winter deaths (previously excess winter deaths) and winter mortality index (WMI) (previously excess winter mortality index). There have been no methodology changes.

RationaleThe purpose of the winter mortality measure is to compare the number of deaths that occurred in the winter period (December to March) with the average of the non winter periods (August to November and April to July). Winter mortality is not solely a reflection of temperature, but of other factors as well. These include respiratory diseases and pressure on services, which have been more intense than usual during and following the height of the pandemic (1).It is an important measure as it allows users to assess whether policies are having an impact on mortality risks during the winter period (2). (1) Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 19 January 2023, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Winter mortality in England and Wales: 2021 to 2022 (provisional) and 2020 to 2021 (final). (2) Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 19 January 2023, ONS website, QMI, Winter mortality in England and Wales QMI: 19 January 2023Definition of numeratorTotal number of winter deaths for all ages in defined year 20xx/20xx+1 (number of deaths occurring in December in year 20xx and January to March in 20xx plus 1) minus half the number of deaths in the non winter months (preceding August to November in year 20xx and following April to July in year 20xx plus 1) and registered by 31 December 20xx plus 1.Definition of denominatorThe average number of deaths for all ages ( in defined year 20xx/20xx plus 1) occurring in the non winter months, i.e. the total number of deaths occurring in the preceding August to November in year 20xx and the following April to July in year 20xx plus 1 divided by two and registered by 31 December 20xx plus 1.CaveatsIn 2020, the coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic led to a large increase of deaths mostly in the non-winter months of April to July 2020. This has impacted the WMI for 2019 to 2020. Because we rely on using the difference between deaths occurring in the winter and the average of non winter months; specifically, the scale of COVID 19 deaths during non winter months has fundamentally disturbed the data time series and so data for 2019 to 2020 should be interpreted with caution.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Births and Mortality Extract is based on registered deaths (Date of registration) and the Winter deaths compared to non winter deaths and WMI calculations are based on the date of death occurrences (Date of death). It is possible that a number of deaths might not have been registered when the data were released and this could vary between areas. This indicator only includes deaths which are registered by the end of the calendar year 20xx plus 1.Data published in the PHOF will differ from published ONS results which uses an extract of mortality data taken approximately five months after the annual ONS mortality extract is taken, in order to give more time for late registrations (for example, deaths that were referred to a coroner) to appear in the data.The WMI will be partly dependent on the proportion of older people in the population as most winter deaths effect older people (there is no standardisation in this calculation by age or any other factor).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 winter deaths compared to non winter deaths.The counts are presented rounded to the nearest 10, in line with how data is presented by the ONS.

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 numerous deaths in 2020. Impact of COVID-19 The weekly death figures for England and Wales highlight the tragic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. In two weeks in April 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 that Winter, and peaking in late January 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-eighteenth 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.

This publication of the SHMI relates to discharges in the reporting period December 2022 - November 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

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/