Deaths in the UK by cause from 2000 to 2022

FOI ref: FOI/2022/4532​

You asked

Please could you provide the recorded information of total deaths from 2000 to 2022 so far, for each of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland so I can then check how many were attributed to flu, COVID-19 and other causes.

We said

Thank you for your enquiry.

We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, 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.

Whilst we receive annual figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland from NRS and NISRA respectively, we do not receive these with a breakdown of cause of death. We would therefore recommend contacting NRS and NISRA for further information on Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively. Annual total figures (not by cause) can be found in our Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages.

England and Wales

We publish the Deaths Registered Series annually which provides a breakdown by selected underlying causes of death and the leading causes of death in England and Wales. Data is available from 2012 to 2021.

Our NOMIS webservice, accessibel via the following link: NOMIS webservice, can also provide a breakdown of causes of death by ICD-10 code of your choosing for England and Wales, from 2013 to 2021. Please see the following instructions for how to use this service:

• Select required dates (2013 to 2021)
• 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).  
• Select format (Excel or CSV for example)  

We have included a breakdown from NOMIS of leading cause groups for England, Wales and non-residents from 2013 to 2021. Please see this in the associated download named 'NOMIS_Extract_Deaths_2013_to_2021_by_cause.xlsx'. Further disaggregation of this data is available by using this service and selecting individual ICD-10 codes.

For more historic data by ICD-10 breakdown, please see the following link to our 21st Century mortality analysis: 21st Century Mortality.

We have also published the following COVID19 and influenza specific data sets:

• Deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) compared with deaths from influenza and pneumonia, England and Wales

• Deaths due to COVID-19, registered in England and Wales

We have also published the following user requested data sets (Please note, Occurrences are Date of Death, whilst Registrations are Date of Death Registration):

• Deaths due to and involving influenza or pneumonia, England and Wales: 2001 to 2021 registrations

• Deaths to selected causes that have been mentioned or is the underlying cause of death in England and Wales, 1959 to 2017

• Number of deaths by underlying cause, sex, and age, England and Wales, 2003

• Number of deaths where influenza and pneumonia were the underlying cause of death, 2015 to 2019, England and Wales

• Deaths by specific cause (circulatory system, respiratory disease, digestive systems diseases), 1981 to 2018

• Deaths where the underlying cause or contributory cause was flu, by age group, England, year ending 2013 to year ending 2017 flu year occurrences

• Number of deaths where influenza was the underlying cause of death or was mentioned on the death certificate, by five-year age group, England and Wales, 2001 to 2016

2022 data

Data for 2022 is still provisional and subject to change, this to allow the inclusion of late registrations which are deaths that have been referred for Coroner investigation.

We publish leading causes of death on a monthly basis as part of our Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales.

We also publish weekly COVID-19, influenza and pneumonia deaths as part of our Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional.

If any of the outputs above do not meet your needs, we can create a bespoke data set. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data are available to order from our Customer Services team. These extracts are outside of the Freedom of Information Act and are subject to disclosure control, legal frameworks, resources and agreement to costs under the ONS Charging Policy.

For further information or to obtain a quote, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.