Obtaining cause of death from the death registration data

Dyddiad y datganiad:
4 November 2021

FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3069​​

You asked

How can I find out the cause of death from the data of deaths recorded?

We said

​Thank you for your enquiry into obtaining cause of death from the death registration data.

Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). 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

Using the NOMIS webservice, you can extract deaths by specific ICD-10 code. For example, if you wanted to know how many deaths there were for Influenza in 2013-2020 you could:

  • 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) or type in ICD-10 code J09 - J11. In the search box, if you type in the cause of death you are researching, NOMIS will provide the ICD-10 code.  

  • Select format (Excel or CSV for example)

    In our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales data, we only provide four causes of death which are All cause, Respiratory, Influenza and Pneumonia and COVID-19. This is because the data is still in provisional status.

    Using the Weekly Figures by cause tab, you will see the following Causes of Death.

Diseases of the respiratory system (J00-J99)

  • Deaths involving respiratory disease (any mention on the death certificate)
  • of which, deaths due to respiratory disease (underlying cause)

Influenza and pneumonia (J09-J18)

  • Deaths involving influenza and pneumonia (any mention on the death certificate)
  • of which, deaths due to influenza and pneumonia (underlying cause)

COVID-19 (U07.1, U07.2, U09.9, U10.9)

  • Deaths involving COVID-19 (any mention on the death certificate)
  • of which, deaths due to COVID-19 (underlying cause)

In our Monthly mortality analysis data set we do provide Leading cause of death breakdown by cause of death in table 11a for England and 11b for Wales.  

Please see the table showing Leading Causes of Death in England for 2021 as of September 2021 as an example.

Top ten leading
causes of death
in year-to-
date 2021		​Rank in
year to date		​Number
of deaths
COVID-191st55,044
Dementia and
Alzheimer's disease		2nd40,872
Ischaemic
heart diseases		3rd38,683
Cerebrovascular
diseases		4th19,903
Malignant neoplasm
of trachea bronchus
and lung		5th19,508
Chronic lower
respiratory
diseases		6th16,860
Symptoms signs
and ill-defined
conditions		7th10,951
Malignant
neoplasm of colon
sigmoid rectum
and anus		8th10,529
Influenza
and pneumonia		9th10,373
Malignant neoplasms
of lymphoid
haematopoietic
and related tissue		10th8,111

Download this table

.xls .csv

In our Annual publication. Deaths registered in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) you can find the following causes of death.

  • Table 8 - External causes of death.

  • Table 9a - Leading causes of death by age in England and Wales.

    More information can be found in our User guide to mortality statistics

For further information please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.

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