Deaths in the UK from natural causes and influenza in 2019

You asked

​Please provide the following:

Total number of deaths recorded in UK from natural causes - 2019

Total number of deaths recorded in UK from influenza - 2019

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

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

Unfortunately, we would be unable to provide figures for deaths from 'natural causes', as this is not terminology used by doctors in the death registration process.

Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes, an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. The underlying cause of death is defined by WHO as:

1. the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
2. the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury

There is no ICD-10 code for 'natural causes', as this is not recognised by the ICD-10 as a cause of death. Please see the following guidance for how doctors record a cause of death for more information: Guidance notes for completing a medical certificate of cause of death.

However, please see our most recent annual deaths publication via the following link: Deaths registered in England and Wales: 2019

Table 1 of this publication shows a total of 530,841 deaths for England and Wales in 2019.

Table 8 of this publication extensively lists various causes of death, which may help with the information you are looking for.

We can confirm from this publication that there were 1,223 deaths from influenza only in 2019. This can be identified in the dataset as ICD10 codes J09 -J11.

There have been 26,398 deaths from influenza and pneumonia in 2019. This can be identified in the dataset as ICD10 codes J09 – J18.

You may be interested to know that our deaths registered series for 2019 will be uploaded into our NOMIS Webservice shortly, where further information can be obtained by age, sex and geographical location.

For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk