You asked
Please could you provide the following information;
The total number of deaths registered in the UK, from all causes in 2018
The total number of deaths registered in the UK, from all causes in 2019
The total number of deaths registered in the UK, from all causes, in 2020 so far
We said
Thank you for your request.
We are responsible for producing mortality statistics for England and Wales. 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.
All our mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All 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
2018 and 2019 data:
We have several open data sources that you can use to obtain data at national, regional, local authority or middle layer super output area (MSOA).
NOMIS - Interactive web service that provides mortality statistics for England and Wales (including some subnational geographies) broken down by calendar year of registration 2013-2019, age, sex, underlying cause of death and area of usual residence of the deceased. Data for 2020 will be published on NOMIS and released in July 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)
The following publication, Deaths Registered Series, provides registered deaths by age, sex, selected underlying causes of death and the leading causes of death. This contains death rates and death registrations by area of residence and single year of age. Annual death totals are available up to 2019. The annual dataset for 2020 is scheduled for release in July 2021. Leading causes and total deaths (including ICD codes) can be found in table 9. Underlying causes and total deaths can be found in table 10.
20th Century Mortality and 21st Century Mortality provides annual data on the number of deaths registered in England and Wales by age group, sex, year and underlying cause of death, as defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision.
2020 data:
Please see the following dataset: Deaths registered weekly in England and Wales. Row 9 of the tab named 'Weekly figures 2020' provides total deaths from all causes for each week in 2020. Totals deaths for England and Wales this year can be calculated from the figures in this row.
We have also been producing Deaths involving COVID-19, England and Wales in the response to COVID-19. This publication provides a greater insight into the leading underlying causes of death groups for deaths occurring in England and Wales between March and June 2020.
Provisional monthly death registration data for England and Wales, broken down by sex, age and country are now available in this monthly publication: Monthly mortality analysis, England and Wales. This publication contains data from July onwards and includes leading causes of death, this is included in table 11.
If you have any queries about the above data, please email Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.