You asked

​​Could you point me towards the latest figures for deaths by profession. I’m especially interested in Covid-19 deaths and education but obviously this will have to be comparative to have any value.

We said

Thank you for your request.

We are responsible for the provision of mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

Occupations are defined using the Standard Occupation Classification (SOC 2010). Definitions of all groups and individual occupations can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/standardoccupationalclassificationsoc/soc2010/soc2010volume1structureanddescriptionsofunitgroups

Our latest analysis showing COVID-19 deaths by occupation is available via the following link: Coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by occupation, England and Wales: Deaths registered between 9 March and 28 December 2020. This provides provisional analysis of deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19), by different occupational groups, among men and women aged 20 to 64 years in England and Wales from March to December 2020. Please also see the dataset accompanying this bulletin:

There are numerous occupation codes attributed to teaching and educational professions:

  • In table 4 you will find a breakdown of COVID-19 deaths by sub-major occupation groups by sex, teaching and educational professionals.
  • Table 5 contains minor occupation groups by sex, teaching and educational professionals.
  • Table 8 provides a breakdown of deaths by teaching and education professionals, broken down by sex. This table also has a comparison to deaths of teachers from all causes.

If you would like to discuss these statistics further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk