You asked
Please send me information on the total number of FLU deaths from 2019 to 2021. The specific request follows:
Under 60 years of age
- How many people have died as a direct result of FLU with no underlying issues?
- How many people have died as a direct result of FLU with underlying issues?
Over 60 years of age
- How many people have died as a direct result of FLU with no underlying issues?
- How many people have died as a direct result of FLU with underlying issues?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We hold mortality data for England and Wales. If you wish to obtain Influenza mortality data for Scotland and Northern Ireland then you will need to contact National Records of Scotland and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Centre, respectively.
The number of deaths where influenza was the underlying cause, by age group, for England and Wales, can be obtained via NOMIS for 2013 to 2019. Influenza can be identified using the underlying cause of death ICD-10 codes: J09-J11. I have included the numbers for 2019 in the table below.
Number of death registrations where influenza was recorded as the underlying cause in England and Wales: 2019
Please be aware that these numbers of deaths are where influenza was recorded as the underlying cause, meaning where the death was directly caused by influenza. However, this includes deaths where influenza was the underlying and only cause mentioned on the death certificate as well as deaths where it was recorded as the underlying cause, but other contributory factors might also have been mentioned on the death certificate.
For us to provide this breakdown of the information exactly as you have requested, we would have 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, special extracts and bespoke tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order up to 2019 (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.
We only provide bespoke analysis based on finalised death registrations data, so we cannot provide you with the same bespoke analysis for 2020 at this time. This will be available on request after deaths are finalised and published via our Deaths Registered Series and NOMIS in July 2021.
You may be interested in the following data related to your request:
The number of weekly deaths for influenza and pneumonia combined (ICD-10 codes J09-J18) for England and Wales, 2020 are published in the latest provisional weekly deaths publication. Data are available in the excel chart data download file underneath Figure 2.
Numbers and proportion of death certificates where the death was due to COVID-19 by pre-existing condition and broad age group, for January to December 2020, England and Wales, are available as part of the Monthly mortality analysis publication. These data can be found in the Pre-existing conditions of people who died due to COVID-19, England and Wales dataset.
If you wish to discuss this information further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.