Total deaths in the UK from 2000 to 2020

You asked

​Please provide yearly overall death rates in the UK from 2000 to 2020.

For the year 2020 can you please provide me with the death rates you have statistics for so far. For all other years an overall figure will suffice.

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.

However, we do publish headline figures within the following bulletin: Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages. The latest data available is 2018.

An update of our Vital Statistics bulletin to include UK death statistics for 2019 will be published in early 2021. As such, the information you have requested is considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.

This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest.  This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.

Data for 2019 is available for England and Wales as part of our Deaths Registered series. In 2019, there were 530,841 deaths registered in England and Wales, 496,370 total deaths in England and 33,183 total deaths in Wales.

According to the following bulletin, Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional, using the latest data available for w/e 25 December (week 52), there have been 604,045 deaths registered in England and Wales.

Please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk if you require any further information.