Mortality Rates
(asked on 16th January 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of reasons for the the rise in excess deaths since 2020.
Estimates from both the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of death registrations in England in 2023 was 6% higher than expected. It is likely that a combination of factors has contributed, including high flu prevalence, the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.
More estimates from both OHID and ONS show that there has not been a rise in excess deaths since 2020 estimated numbers of excess deaths have reduced each year from 2020. The following table shows these estimates from 21 March 2020 to 1 December 2023:
| Pandemic to date | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 to date |
Number of excess deaths estimated by OHID | 170,804 | 70,719 | 43,108 | 30,596 | 26,381 |
% higher than expected | 9% | 19% | 9% | 6% | 6% |
Number of excess deaths by ONS | 187,998 | 76,169 | 52,506 | 32,946 | 26,377 |
% higher than expected | 10% | 21% | 11% | 6% | 6% |
Source: OHID and ONS
Notes:
- Pandemic to date: data from 21 March 2020 to 1 December 2023
- 2020: data from 21 March 2020 to 1 January 2021
- 2021: data from 2 January 2021 to 31 December 2021
- 2022: data from 1 January 2022 to 30 December 2022
- 2023: data from 31 December 2022 to 1 December 2023