You asked
I have looked at your UK ONS annual death figures.
- Overall annual death rates you record show that deaths per 100.000 are much higher in many previous years compared with 2020.
- Each year from 1990 - 2006 more people (per 100,000) died annually in the uk. This is never a headline or seen as important?
- Whilst you record Covid -19 deaths, what about death say from Common Flu - Not recorded?
- Your headline and your graph is correct but is very misleading? The uk overall death rate is very important?
I look at your ONS figures a lot and I appreciate the work and effort you all put in.
We said
Thank you for your query.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data in England and Wales. This is derived using information collected from the death certificates at death registration. For Scotland and Northern Ireland statistics please contact National Records Scotland and NISRA respectively.
England and Wales crude mortality rates (per 100,00 population)
We publish annual mortality figures and rates in ad hoc dataset that was published on 12 January 2021: Annual deaths and mortality rates, 1938 to 2020 (provisional). Here you can see the crude mortality rates (per 100,000 population) from 1838-2020 (provisional). Rates have been calculated using the most up-to-date population estimates when the statistics were published. Provisional estimates have been used for 2020. Please note, these statistics are for England and Wales and not the UK.
Influenza and Pneumonia
All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) the coded mortality data available up to end of December 2019 is coded to version 2014 of the ICD10 framework. 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:
a) the disease or injury that initiated the train of events directly leading to death, or
b) the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury
For 2020, we publish the downloadable dataset beneath Figure 2 of our deaths registered weekly bulletin. This shows the number of deaths from 2020 up to 26March 2021 due to influenza and pneumonia and the number of deaths involving influenza and pneumonia. "Due to" refers only to deaths where influenza and pneumonia was recorded as the underlying cause of death and "involving" referring to deaths that had influenza and pneumonia mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, whether as an underlying cause or not. Please see the 'download data' option at the bottom of Figure 2 for these statistics.
This figure also contains weekly figures deaths due to and involving COVID-19. I have summed the weekly totals for you for you:
- Deaths involving influenza and pneumonia (underlying or secondary cause): 156,137
- Deaths due to influenza and pneumonia (underlying cause): 24,291
For previous years, 2001 to 2019, we have also produced a back series as part of our 21st century mortality, which contains all-cause mortality data by ICD code, age and sex, 2001-2019, England and Wales. The ICD codes used to code influenza are J09-J11. You can search this in column A.
We also have published annual mortality data available by cause for the years 2013-2019, this is available as part of our explorable dataset available on our NOMIS webservice. Influenza is coded under J09-J11. This search can be used to search Influenza deaths separately, a full breakdown of mortality data by cause for 2020 is expected to be released in July 2021.
If you wish to search for previous years in NOMIS, please follow the instructions below:
Select the geography (England and Wales, regional or by local authority).
- Select Age -- All ages or 5-year age bands.
- Select Gender -- Total or Male/Female
- Select rates -- All deaths, rates or percentage of population for example.
- Select cause of death (ICD10 code search is available). J09-J11
- Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
Our 21st mortality publication and our NOMIS webservice will be updated with 2020 data in the summer of 2021, once the data are finalised.
Any further analysis showing deaths from influenza would need to be created as bespoke analysis. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.