FOI reference: FOI-2025-2542
You asked
Please could I have the number of deaths caused by a dog bite from 1/1/24 until 21/1/25?
How many deaths have been caused by an XL Bully type dog?
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the production of mortality statistics for England and Wales, this is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration.
Causes of death are certified in most cases by a doctor, who records the sequence of medical conditions and relevant events leading to, or contributing to, the death, based on the deceased's healthcare records and other available information, such as laboratory tests or post-mortem investigation.
Some deaths are certified by a coroner who determines the causes of death following an inquest, based on all the available evidence. It is unusual for wider contextual factors such as the breed of dog to be recorded on the death certificate, therefore we do not hold that information.
Please see the latest provisional figures for deaths due to and involving by being bitten or struck by a dog on our website. The latter provides numbers for deaths registered up to 10th January 2025.
Deaths due to accidents such as dog bites are referred to a coroner for investigation. We do not receive the death registration until the coroner's report has been completed. More information on delayed registrations can be found in our Impact of Registration Delays bulletin. This means that we are still in the data collection process for deaths dues to dog bites registered in 2024 and 2025.
For further information, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.