Deaths in the UK in 2020 and excess deaths in 2020

You asked

Please tell me how many people died in the UK in 2020, 1 January to 31 December.

I ask because I am interested in understanding the number who died above the 2015 to 2019 average. Published data confuses me, so the simple number requested will allow me to calculate net excess deaths in 2020 - ie the net of 'additional' Covid 19 deaths less reduced deaths from other causes, compared with the previous 5 year average, a figure which in simple form does not appear to be available.

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 statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Should you have any questions about their data, they can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.

All three organisations have 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 we publish the Deaths Registered Series in the summer of 2021. This to allow time for late registrations to be processed as a result of coroner's inquests.

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

We have also produced the following publication showing excess deaths in 2020, which may be of interest: Weekly provisional excess deaths for regions in England and Wales, 2020. This provides data from Week 1 (Week ending 3 January 2020) to Week 53 (Week ending 1 January 2021). Excess deaths are calculated as the total weekly deaths 2020 from all causes minus the 2015 to 2019 five-year average for the corresponding week.