Deaths where COVID-19 was the only cause of death by specific age categories in the UK in 2020 and 2021

You asked

​Deaths of UK residents since March 2020 to date broken down by age and demographic range (under 20, under 40, under 60 and over 60) where there were no underlying health conditions or comorbidities, where COVID-19 is the only cause of death listed on the death certificate.

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.

In order to provide deaths from COVID-19 only for England and Wales by the requested age-bands, we would be required to create bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.

However, we were producing the following publication, Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales, in the response to COVID-19. This publication provides a greater insight into the leading underlying causes of death groups for deaths occurring in England and Wales between March and June 2020. Figures for COVID-19 deaths with no underlying health conditions are available on table 5. This means where no other underlying condition was listed on the death certificate. The following figures has been taken from this publication:

• No pre-existing condition: England and Wales, March to June 2020 – 4476

This publication provides information by age bands from 0-44, then five-year age bands up to 90+ thereafter. This is available in Table 6a and in the following table:

Notes:

1. Figures include deaths of non-residents

2. Figures are provisional

3. Based on deaths involving COVID-19 (ICD-10 codes U07.1 and U07.2) rather than deaths where COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death

4. Deaths occurring between March and June 2020 rather than deaths registered between March and June 2020

5. Main pre-existing causes are grouped using the ONS Leading Causes of Deaths list (https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/methodologies/userguidetomortalitystatistics/leadingcausesofdeathinenglandandwalesrevised2016) and International Classification of Disease version 10 blocks of causes.

6. Including deaths registered up until 4 July 2020.

This publication has been paused. However, we are looking to resume analysis of COVID-19 deaths with no underlying conditions in the future.

Provisional monthly death registration data for England and Wales, broken down by sex, age and country are now available in this monthly publication: Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales. This publication contains data from July onwards and includes deaths due to COVID-19 and leading causes of death.

We also publish a breakdown of COVID-19 deaths by age group in our weekly deaths bulletin which may be of interest to you. However, these statistics are for deaths involving COVID-19 and refer to where COVID-19 was listed as the underlying cause or as a secondary cause. Please download the 2020 file and see the 'Covid-19 – Weekly registrations' table.

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