FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3007
You asked
For 2020 and 2021, how many citizens of England and Wales have sadly died from any form of influenza?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry regarding deaths due to influenza in England and Wales for 2020 and 2021.
The NOMIS interactive Webservice will provide deaths registered due to influenza for 2013-2020 in England and Wales.
Our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All 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
The ICD-10 cause code for influenza is J09 - J11.
| Date | Total mortality | England | Wales | England and Wales | Resident outside England and Wales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 161 | 146 | 13 | 159 | 2 |
| 2014 | 118 | 112 | 6 | 118 | 0 |
| 2015 | 284 | 260 | 22 | 282 | 2 |
| 2016 | 430 | 406 | 21 | 427 | 3 |
| 2017 | 458 | 430 | 28 | 458 | 0 |
| 2018 | 1,598 | 1,523 | 73 | 1,596 | 2 |
| 2019 | 1,223 | 1,160 | 53 | 1,213 | 10 |
| 2020 | 511 | 483 | 27 | 510 | 1 |
Download this table Table showing mortality statistics for J09-J11 influenza, 2013 to 2020
.xls .csvIf you require further disaggregation by age, sex, or geography, please see the instructions below:
- Select Mortality Statistics - Underlying cause and age
- Select Geography, choose Countries ALL for England and Wales including non-residents or specific countries. Local authority level is available, please use the search bar to select.
- Click Date and tick required dates or ALL for 2013 to 2020 range.
- NOMIS automatically selects total ages, if you require Age disaggregation please tick the selected 5-year age bands.
- NOMIS automatically selects number of deaths, if you require rates or percentages please tick this manually.
- NOMIS automatically selects Total, if you require disaggregation by sex please tick boxes for male and female.
- Underlying cause -- In the search bar type J09 - J11.
- Click format if you require CSV download, if you require Excel format you do not need to follow this step.
- Click Download the data.
2021 data
Unfortunately, we do not hold analysis showing deaths involving influenza for 2021 for England and Wales. In order to fulfil this request, we would need use to create bespoke analysis. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
However, we do publish influenza and pneumonia deaths on a weekly basis as part of the following publication: Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales.
As of 1 October 2021, there have been 79,313 deaths registered involving influenza and pneumonia, of which 11,039 deaths have this registered as the underlying cause. This publication is updated every Tuesday.
For further information, please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.