You asked
Can I please ask for the following information and data under a F.O.I request, relating as below;
How many people have died annually in the UK since 2010 - 2020 / by year.
What is the categorisation of UK top 10 deaths in the 2010 - 2020 / by year.
How many autopsies have been carried out annually in the UK since 2010 - 2020 / by year.
How many people have died in the UK of Flu in the 2010 - 2020 period determined as the single cause of death.
How many people have died in the UK from COVID-19 determined as the single cause of death in 2020.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
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 statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
Annual deaths in 2010 to 2020
We publish headline figures within our Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages.
| Year | UK | England and Wales | England | Wales | Scotland | Northern Ireland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 604,707 | 530,841 | 496,370 | 33,183 | 58,108 | 15,758 |
| 2018 | 616,014 | 541,589 | 505,859 | 34,406 | 58,503 | 15,922 |
| 2017 | 607,172 | 533,253 | 498,882 | 33,248 | 57,883 | 16,036 |
| 2016 | 597,206 | 525,048 | 490,791 | 33,066 | 56,728 | 15,430 |
| 2015 | 602,782 | 529,655 | 495,309 | 33,198 | 57,579 | 15,548 |
| 2014 | 570,341 | 501,424 | 468,875 | 31,439 | 54,239 | 14,678 |
| 2013 | 576,458 | 506,790 | 473,552 | 32,138 | 54,700 | 14,968 |
| 2012 | 569,024 | 499,331 | 466,779 | 31,502 | 54,937 | 14,756 |
| 2011 | 552,232 | 484,367 | 452,862 | 30,426 | 53,661 | 14,204 |
| 2010 | 561,666 | 493,242 | 461,017 | 31,197 | 53,967 | 14,457 |
Download this table
.xls .csvAccording to the following bulletin, Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales, provisional, using the data recorded up to the w/e 1 January 2021 (week 53), there have been 614,114 deaths registered in England and Wales.
576,624 of these deaths were registered in England.
37,790 of these deaths were registered in Wales.
Whilst the data has not yet been finalised for 2020, all three Statistical authorities have published blogs with year-end figures.
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
Leading causes of death 2010 to 2020
Leading causes of death for 2020 can be found within the following link to our monthly mortality analysis: Monthly Mortality Analysis, England and Wales. Please see Table 11a and 11b in the December spreadsheet, which provides deaths from 1 January to 31 December 2020 by top 10 leading cause, the death rate per percentage of the population, and a comparison to the five-year average for England and Wales respectively.
Leading causes of death for England and Wales for 2012 to 2019 can be found in the following annual 'deaths registered in England and Wales' publication: Deaths registered in England and Wales publications: 2012 to 2019. Please also the following datasets, which accompany these publications:Deaths registered in England and Wales 2019 dataset. Table 9 of these datasets provide leading causes of death by age-group, sex numbers and percentages. Data is available for 2012 to 2019.
We also have the following publication, Leading causes of death, UK: 2001 to 2018, and accompanying dataset. This provides deaths registered by age group, sex, and leading cause of death in the UK from 2001 to 2018.
Autopsies
We have statistics available on the number of post-mortems which took place in since 2016 to 2019 available in table 4, section 6.3 of our user guide to mortality statistics:
| 2016: Number | 2016: % | 2017: Number | 2017: % | 2018: Number | 2018: % | 2019: Number | 2019: % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total deaths | 525,048 | 100 | 533,253 | 100 | 541,589 | 100 | 530,841 | 100 | |
| Certified by doctor: | with coroner not involved, | 419,178 | 79.8 | 433,682 | 81.3 | 444,724 | 82.1 | 437,013 | 82.3 |
| without post-mortem, or post mortem information missing | 315,098 | 60 | 331,884 | 62.2 | 346,065 | 63.9 | 345,893 | 65.2 | |
| with post-mortem | 314,177 | 59.8 | 330,959 | 62.1 | 345,119 | 63.7 | 344,994 | 65 | |
| 921 | 0.2 | 935 | 0.2 | 946 | 0.2 | 899 | 0.2 | ||
| After referral to coroner: | 104,080 | 19.8 | 101,798 | 19.1 | 98,659 | 18.2 | 91,120 | 17.2 | |
| registered with no post-mortem or inquest, or post-mortem information missing. | 103,744 | 19.8 | 101,545 | 19 | 98,375 | 18.2 | 90,854 | 17.1 | |
| with post-mortem | 336 | 0.1 | 253 | 0 | 284 | 0.1 | 266 | 0.1 | |
| Certified by coroner: | 104,011 | 19.8 | 97,569 | 18.3 | 94,610 | 17.5 | 91,114 | 17.2 | |
| Coroner's post-mortem held, with no inquest | 63,693 | 12.1 | 63,651 | 11.9 | 63,713 | 11.8 | 59,813 | 11.3 | |
| Coroner's inquest completed, with or without post-mortem, or post-mortem information missing | 39,333 | 7.5 | 32,789 | 6.1 | 29,920 | 5.5 | 30,348 | 5.7 | |
| Coroner's inquest adjourned | 984 | 0.2 | 1,129 | 0.2 | 977 | 0.2 | 952 | 0.2 | |
| Uncertified | 1,859 | 0.4 | 2,002 | 0.4 | 2,255 | 0.4 | 2,714 | 0.5 |
Download this table
.xls .csvThe following link also provides ad hoc analysis, which shows the number of deaths with the number of post-mortems in England and Wales in 2015: Deaths by place of occurrence, referral to coroner, post-mortem, England and Wales 2015.
In order to provide the number of autopsies conducted from 2010 to 2020, we would need to create bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information in order to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
We are able to create bespoke mortality analysis between 2010 and 2019. Once 2020 death registrations are finalised in July 2021, we will be offering bespoke services for 2020 mortality data. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales will be available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). If you would like to request this bespoke dataset, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk to discuss your enquiry further. Please note, there may be a charge for this work which would be subject to our charging policy.
Deaths due to Influenza 2010 to 2019
Please see the following ad-hoc dataset: 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.
Please refer to Table 1 of this publication, which provides figures where influenza was considered to be the underlying cause of death from 2001 to 2016 by five-year age band.
The annual number of deaths where influenza was the underlying cause can be obtained via NOMIS for 2013 to 2019. Influenza can be identified using ICD-10 codes J09-J11. The following table has been extracted from NOMIS to show the number of deaths caused by influenza (J09-J11) for all ages from 2013 to 2019:
| Date | England and Wales | Resident outside England and Wales | Total mortality |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 159 | 2 | 161 |
| 2014 | 118 | 0 | 118 |
| 2015 | 282 | 2 | 284 |
| 2016 | 427 | 3 | 430 |
| 2017 | 458 | 0 | 458 |
| 2018 | 1,596 | 2 | 1,598 |
| 2019 | 1,213 | 10 | 1,223 |
Download this table
.xls .csvDeaths due to influenza in 2020
Analysis of deaths occurring between 1 January and 31 August 2020, including a split of flu and pneumonia figures for England and Wales and comparisons of deaths from COVID with deaths from flu and pneumonia are available via the following link: Deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) compared with deaths from influenza and pneumonia, England and Wales. This publication states that between 1 January and 31 August 2020, there were 394 deaths due to influenza.
Figure 2 of our Deaths registered weekly bulletin shows the number of deaths in 2020 in England and Wales 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.
In this publication, influenza deaths are not shown separately. Figures for both 'Influenza and Pneumonia' are grouped together (J09 – J18). The following figure has been summed from the dataset to produce the number of deaths due to influenza and pneumonia in 2020 (where these were considered to be the underlying cause): 20,523
A full breakdown of mortality data by underlying cause, such as influenza, for England and Wales in 2020 is expected to be released in July 2021.
COVID-19 deaths
The doctor or coroner certifying a death can record more than one health condition or event on the form. The medical certificate of cause of death has two parts, Part 1 contains the sequence of health conditions or events leading directly to death, while Part 2 can contain other health conditions that contributed to the death but were not part of the direct sequence. For statistical purposes one of the health conditions on the certificate is chosen as the 'underlying cause of death'. The underlying cause of death is defined as the health condition or event that started the train of events leading to death and is worked out according to rules from the World Health Organisation (WHO). COVID-19 is the underlying cause of death in around 92% of deaths where it was mentioned on the death certificate.
You can read in detail about the coding of causes of death and identifying the underlying cause in the ONS User guide to mortality statistics and the WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) instruction manual.
When we say that a death 'involved' COVID-19, we mean that COVID-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, possibly along with other health conditions, not necessarily as the underlying cause of death.
When we say that a death was 'due to' COVID-19, we mean that COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death, because it was either the only health condition mentioned on the death certificate, or it was the one that started the train of events leading to death. COVID-19 is the underlying cause of death in around 92% of deaths where it was mentioned on the death certificate.
According to the following publication, Deaths Registered weekly, which is updated every Tuesday, as of 8 January 2021, (latest available data) there have been: