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.

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.

There were 11,607 deaths registered in England and Wales for the week ending February 21, 2025, compared with 12,365 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 in decline since 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, for example, life expectancy at birth fell by 23 weeks for females, and 37 weeks for males.2. 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 February 2025, there were 48,895 deaths in England and Wales, compared with 50,358 in February 2024. 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.

Annual data on death registrations by area of usual residence in the UK. Summary tables including age-standardised mortality rates.

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.

Death statistics reported include counts of deaths by age and sex and by selected cause. Standardised mortality ratios, age-standardised mortality rates and infant mortality rates by area of usual residence are also included.

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;

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

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)

For the week ending March 7, 2025, weekly deaths in England and Wales were 124 below the number expected, compared with 460 fewer than 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 Coronavirus (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.

Analysis of provisional 2015 death registrations data by sex, cause, age, region and local authority. Provisional estimates of period life expectancy are also provided for context.

This dataset as reported to the Rural Payments Agency contains cattle that died at slaughterhouses, cattle born before 1 July 1996 which were not registered until 2000, death registrations that have passed initial Cattle Tracing System validation checks, applications received for cattle born in Great Britain. Attribution statement:

This statistic presents the proportion of United Kingdom (UK) Regular Armed Forces causes of death from 2015 to 2018. In 2018, 16 percent of all armed forces personnel fatalities resulted from cancers, making this disease the greatest killer of UK Armed Forces in this year. Suicide and open verdict deaths amounted to 8 percent, whereas 2 percent of deaths was caused by hostile action.

United Kingdom UK: Number of Maternal Death data was reported at 74.000 Person in 2015. This records a decrease from the previous number of 75.000 Person for 2014. United Kingdom UK: Number of Maternal Death data is updated yearly, averaging 81.000 Person from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2015, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 86.000 Person in 2005 and a record low of 74.000 Person in 2015. United Kingdom UK: Number of Maternal Death 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. A maternal death refers to the death of a woman while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, irrespective of the duration and site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.; ; WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group, and the United Nations Population Division. Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015. Geneva, World Health Organization, 2015; Sum;