If you are looking for the latest data on deaths involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) registered in England and Wales, please see our weekly provisional deaths dataset.

Main points from latest release

The key points from this release are:

• In July 2023, there were 38,269 deaths registered in England, 977 deaths (2.5%) below the July five-year average (2017 to 2019, 2021 and 2022); in Wales, there were 2,674 deaths registered, 96 deaths (3.7%) above the five-year average.
• Accounting for the population size and age structure, the age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) for July 2023 was below the five-year average in both England (776.3 deaths per 100,000 people, 9.0% below average) and Wales (893.9 deaths per 100,000 people, 2.3% below average); this difference was only statistically significant in England.
• The number of deaths in the year to date (January to July 2023) was above average in both England and Wales (by 7.1% and 7.0%, respectively); the year-to-date ASMR was also above average in Wales (0.5% above average) but below average in England (0.2% below average).
• The leading cause of death in both England and Wales in July 2023 was ischaemic heart diseases (9.9% and 9.6% of all deaths, respectively).
• The leading cause of excess death in England in July 2023 was symptoms, signs and ill-defined conditions (which includes “old age” and “frailty”), at 107 excess deaths (9.7% above average); in Wales, it was heart failure and complications and ill-defined heart disease at 29 excess deaths (83.1% above average).

Notes

These figures are presented by regions (within England), unitary authorities, counties, districts and London boroughs.

Weekly deaths counts cannot be summed to match the counts for monthly deaths as some weeks may span more than one month.

For information on data quality, legislation and procedures relating to mortality statistics, please see our User guide to mortality statistics.

There is an interactive mapping tool that enables trends in mortality to be analysed at the local level.

For mortality data for other UK countries, please see statistics on deaths in Scotland and statistics on deaths in Northern Ireland.