You asked
Please could you provide the following information at your convenience.
Number of deaths for the whole of the UK for the last 5-10 years (including 2020), broken down by month if you can.
Number of UK covid deaths from Covid, not 'with' covid - ie no pre-existing conditions, or other reasons to be in hospital, ie, had a operation that went wrong, or in hospital due to an accident, in other words, those deaths whereby covid was the sole reason for the death.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for the production of Mortality data for England and Wales, this is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration. 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.
Total UK deaths 2009 to 2019:
However, we do publish headline figures within our Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages. The latest data available is 2019.
UK | England and Wales | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2019 | 604,707 | 530,841 | 496,370 | 33,183 | 58,108 | 15,758 |
2018 | 616,014 | 541,589 | 505,859 | 34,406 | 58,503 | 15,922 |
2017 | 607,172 | 533,253 | 498,882 | 33,248 | 57,883 | 16,036 |
2016 | 597,206 | 525,048 | 490,791 | 33,066 | 56,728 | 15,430 |
2015 | 602,782 | 529,655 | 495,309 | 33,198 | 57,579 | 15,548 |
2014 | 570,341 | 501,424 | 468,875 | 31,439 | 54,239 | 14,678 |
2013 | 576,458 | 506,790 | 473,552 | 32,138 | 54,700 | 14,968 |
2012 | 569,024 | 499,331 | 466,779 | 31,502 | 54,937 | 14,756 |
2011 | 552,232 | 484,367 | 452,862 | 30,426 | 53,661 | 14,204 |
2010 | 561,666 | 493,242 | 461,017 | 31,197 | 53,967 | 14,457 |
2009 | 559,617 | 491,348 | 459,241 | 31,006 | 53,856 | 14,413 |
Download this table Deaths totals in the UK 2009 to 2019
.xls .csvDeaths in England and Wales in 2020:
According to the following publication, Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional, using the latest data available for w/e 1st January 2021 (week 53) there have been 614,114 deaths registered in England and Wales.
Whilst the data has not yet been finalised for 2020, all three Statistical authorities have published blogs with year end figures.
England and Wales - https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2021/01/12/counting-deaths-involving-coronavirus-a-year-in-review/
Scotland - https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/annual-deaths-excess-deaths-1855-2020.xlsx
Northern Ireland - https://www.nisra.gov.uk/publications/monthly-deaths
Monthly deaths in England and Wales:
Monthly deaths are available for England and Wales as part of our Deaths registered monthly in England and Wales publication. Data is available for 2006 to 2020.
COVID-19 deaths in England and Wales:
We are unable to discern the number of people who have died 'with' COVID-19, because the doctor or coroner only mentions on the death certificate those health conditions that were believed to contribute to the cause of death. If a person had COVID-19, but that was not part of the reason they died, it will not be mentioned on the death certificate.
The doctor or coroner certifying a death can record more than one health condition or event on the form. The medical certificate of cause of death has two parts, Part 1 contains the sequence of health conditions or events leading directly to death, while Part 2 can contain other health conditions that contributed to the death but were not part of the direct sequence. For statistical purposes one of the health conditions on the certificate is chosen as the 'underlying cause of death'. The underlying cause of death is defined as the health condition or event that started the train of events leading to death and is worked out according to rules from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
You can read in detail about the coding of causes of death and identifying the underlying cause in the ONS User guide to mortality statistics and the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) instruction manual.
The downloadable datafile beneath Figure 2 of the following publication, Deaths registered weekly, provides deaths due to and involving COVID-19 weekly in 2020. We use the term "due to COVID-19" when referring only to deaths where that illness was recorded as the underlying cause of death. We use the term "involving COVID-19" when referring to deaths that had that illness mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, either as underlying cause or contributory factor. Please see the following table taken from this publication, which provides these figures.
Week number | Deaths involving COVID-19 | Deaths due to COVID-19 |
---|---|---|
Week 1 | - | - |
Week 2 | - | - |
Week 3 | - | - |
Week 4 | - | - |
Week 5 | - | - |
Week 6 | - | - |
Week 7 | - | - |
Week 8 | - | - |
Week 9 | - | - |
Week 10 | - | - |
Week 11 | 5 | 5 |
Week 12 | 103 | 95 |
Week 13 | 539 | 519 |
Week 14 | 3,475 | 3,332 |
Week 15 | 6,213 | 5,983 |
Week 16 | 8,758 | 8,435 |
Week 17 | 8,237 | 7,867 |
Week 18 | 6,035 | 5,689 |
Week 19 | 3,930 | 3,664 |
Week 20 | 3,810 | 3,511 |
Week 21 | 2,589 | 2,341 |
Week 22 | 1,822 | 1,628 |
Week 23 | 1,588 | 1,392 |
Week 24 | 1,114 | 948 |
Week 25 | 783 | 629 |
Week 26 | 606 | 498 |
Week 27 | 532 | 408 |
Week 28 | 366 | 291 |
Week 29 | 295 | 228 |
Week 30 | 217 | 161 |
Week 31 | 193 | 148 |
Week 32 | 152 | 115 |
Week 33 | 139 | 104 |
Week 34 | 138 | 98 |
Week 35 | 101 | 76 |
Week 36 | 78 | 69 |
Week 37 | 99 | 78 |
Week 38 | 139 | 118 |
Week 39 | 215 | 178 |
Week 40 | 321 | 279 |
Week 41 | 438 | 385 |
Week 42 | 670 | 590 |
Week 43 | 978 | 874 |
Week 44 | 1,379 | 1,196 |
Week 45 | 1,937 | 1,743 |
Week 46 | 2,466 | 2,170 |
Week 47 | 2,697 | 2,361 |
Week 48 | 3,040 | 2,637 |
Week 49 | 2,835 | 2,469 |
Week 50 | 2,756 | 2,337 |
Week 51 | 2,986 | 2,557 |
Week 52 | 2,912 | 2,497 |
Week 53 | 3,144 | 2,741 |
Download this table Deaths involving and due to COVID-19, England and Wales, deaths registered in 2020
.xls .csvUnfortunately, we are unable to discern exactly how many people who died from ('due to' or 'involving') COVID-19 had pre-existing health conditions, only how many had a pre-existing condition mentioned on the death certificate. The death certificate is not designed to capture the whole medical history of the deceased – only those health conditions that contributed to the cause of death. In this report in July 2020, we explained that about 90% of people who died from COVID-19 had at least one pre-existing condition mentioned on the death certificate. This is the latest available report, but we will be publishing an update soon.