Reference: FOI-2024-1707
You asked
Can you provide the total numbers of unknown deaths separately in the following years?
2019
2020
2021
2022
2013
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) are responsible for the production of mortality statistics. These mortality statistics are created using information from death registrations provided by the General Register Office (GRO).
Since 2013, when a death is referred to a coroner for investigation, they may issue a Certificate of the Fact of Death (also known as an interim death certificate) to allow relatives to obtain probate and proceed with other practical arrangements without waiting for the outcome. In those cases where the coroner subsequently decides not to hold an inquest, the legal responsibility to register the death remains with the next of kin (or other person involved). In a small number of cases, the person responsible does not fulfil this responsibility. This is possibly because the interim death certificate resembles the formal certificate of death registration in appearance and serves most of the same purposes, leading to a misunderstanding of required action. This has led to a small number of deaths being unintentionally left unregistered. It is estimated that approximately 50 to 100 deaths a year remain unregistered for this reason. These unregistered deaths are not included in our mortality statistics.
If a death is not registered at the GRO we do not receive a record, so we are unable to provide exact figures for each year as we do not hold this information.