Total deaths, deaths from influenza, deaths from heart disease, and hospitalisations in the UK from 2015 to 2020

You asked

​​Would you kindly be able to provide me with the following information:

The total deaths for the UK in the years:

2015-2020

The death rate for the same years.

Hospital admissions for the same years.

Total influenza hospitalisations and deaths for the same years.

Total heart disease deaths for the same years.

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 influenza and heart disease mortality statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Therefore, we do not hold this information for the whole of the UK. Should you wish to obtain this data for Scotland and Northern Ireland, NRS and NISRA can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

In collaboration with NRS and NISRA, we publish headline UK mortality figures within our Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages. The latest data available in this publication is for 2019. All three organisations have also produced blogs with year-end mortality figures for 2020. These have been summed together to provide the 2020 row of the following table. Please note, the figures for 2020 are provisional and are subject to change until the data are finalised in the summer of 2021. This to allow time for late registrations to be processed as a result of coroner's inquests.

Annual deaths in the UK 2015 to 2020:

2020 sources:

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

Deaths involving influenza and heart disease in England and Wales:

This information is available from our NOMIS webservice for deaths registered in England and Wales, including non-residents.

Deaths registered in England and Wales, 2015 to 2019 involving Influenza, Ischaemic Heart Disease and other heart diseases:

Deaths from influenza and heart disease in 2020 in England and Wales will be available once that data have been finalised in our Deaths Registered Series in the summer of 2021. As such, this information 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.<

Hospital Admissions:

Unfortunately, we do not hold hospital admissions and discharges.

This data is held by NHS Digital, so they may be better placed to answer your query. They can be contacted via email at enquiries@nhsdigital.nhs.uk, and by telephone at 0300 303 5678.