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Deaths and life expectancy statistics: ONS, UKHSA, Fingertips, NRS and NISRA

UK deaths statistics are official counts and rates of deaths built from death registrations, published by the ONS for England and Wales, National Records of Scotland and NISRA for Northern Ireland. Life expectancy, causes of death, suicide, drug and alcohol deaths all come from the same registration data, while OHID's Fingertips profiles and the UKHSA data dashboard cover local public health and infectious disease. Fact-checkers use them for claims about excess deaths, Covid, life expectancy gaps and causes of death.

Covers: UK · Release calendar

What it publishes

• Annual ONS death registrations for England and Wales by age, sex, area and leading cause, with age-standardised mortality rates.
• A weekly ONS dashboard of provisional deaths registered in England and Wales, compared with the expected number, which replaced the weekly bulletin in 2025.
• National life tables and life expectancy for local areas of the UK, plus healthy life expectancy (years expected in good health).
• Topic releases on suicides, deaths related to drug poisoning, alcohol-specific deaths and child and infant mortality.
• National Records of Scotland releases on deaths, life expectancy, drug-related deaths and other vital events; NISRA's equivalents for Northern Ireland, including weekly death registrations.
• OHID Fingertips profiles comparing local authorities on hundreds of public health indicators, including mortality, obesity and alcohol.
• The UKHSA data dashboard on COVID-19, flu and other infections, including deaths, hospital admissions and vaccination.
• UKHSA vaccine coverage statistics, including the COVER childhood immunisation programme for England.

Key datasets

• Deaths registered in England and Wales
  Annual counts and age-standardised rates by sex, age, area and leading cause of death, plus deaths occurring in earlier years.
  Updated: Annual
• Weekly deaths dashboard, England and Wales
  Provisional weekly death registrations against expected deaths, by age, sex, region and deprivation.
  Updated: Weekly
• Weekly provisional deaths dataset
  The downloadable weekly figures behind the dashboard.
  Updated: Weekly
• National life tables, UK
  Period life expectancy at every age for the UK and its countries, as three-year averages back to 1980 to 1982.
  Updated: Annual
• Life expectancy for local areas of the UK
  Life expectancy at birth and age 65 for local authorities, with confidence intervals.
  Updated: Annual
• Healthy life expectancy, UK
  Years expected in good health at birth and age 65, by country, region and local area.
  Updated: Annual
• Suicides in England and Wales
  Registrations and occurrences by sex, age, method and area.
  Updated: Annual
• Deaths related to drug poisoning, England and Wales
  Drug poisoning and drug misuse deaths by substance, sex, age and area.
  Updated: Annual
• Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK
  Deaths wholly caused by alcohol for the UK, its countries and English regions.
  Updated: Annual
• Drug-related deaths in Scotland
  NRS annual drug use deaths, with breakdowns by age, sex, deprivation, council area and substance.
  Updated: Annual
• NISRA deaths statistics
  Northern Ireland weekly and monthly deaths, Registrar General annual reports, life expectancy and drug-related deaths.
  Updated: Weekly to annual
• COVER childhood vaccination statistics
  UKHSA coverage of routine childhood vaccinations at ages 1, 2 and 5 in England, by local area.
  Updated: Quarterly and annual

APIs and downloads

• UKHSA data dashboard API
  Open REST API for dashboard metrics (COVID-19, flu and others); JSON or CSV, no key required.
• Fingertips API
  Open API for all Fingertips indicators, with CSV downloads; no key required.
• ONS deaths datasets
  Excel and CSV datasets behind ONS mortality releases; free download, no key.
• NRS deaths time series data
  Long-run spreadsheets of deaths in Scotland by age, sex and cause.

When it publishes

ONS mortality releases are pre-announced on its release calendar and published at 9:30am. The weekly deaths dashboard updates each week, usually covering registrations up to about two weeks earlier. Annual releases on causes of death, suicides, drug and alcohol deaths come out at different times of year. NRS and NISRA publish their own release calendars.

How to use it to check a claim

1. Check whether a figure counts deaths registered in a period or deaths that occurred in it. Deaths needing an inquest, including most suicides and drug deaths, can be registered months or years later.
2. Prefer age-standardised mortality rates to raw counts when comparing years or places, because the population is growing and ageing.
3. For excess deaths, note the method: since February 2024 the UK statistics bodies model expected deaths rather than using a five-year average.
4. For causes of death, check whether a claim uses the underlying cause or any mention on the death certificate, and which grouping of causes.
5. Life expectancy figures are period estimates for a three-year span; check the period and whether it is at birth or at age 65.
6. For local comparisons, look at confidence intervals in ONS and Fingertips data before ranking areas.
7. For UK totals, add England and Wales (ONS), Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland (NISRA), and check definitions match.

Common mistakes

• Treating 'deaths involving COVID-19' as the same as 'deaths due to COVID-19' or deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
• Comparing drug deaths between Scotland and England using different definitions (drug use, drug misuse, drug poisoning).
• Reading period life expectancy as a forecast of how long a baby born today will live.
• Quoting alcohol-related estimates as alcohol-specific deaths, or the reverse.
• Drawing conclusions from one week of provisional deaths, which bank holidays can distort.

Where can I find weekly deaths in the UK?

The ONS publishes a weekly deaths dashboard for England and Wales, comparing registrations with the expected number. NISRA publishes weekly death registrations for Northern Ireland, and National Records of Scotland publishes deaths data for Scotland. The figures are provisional and based on registration dates, so recent weeks can be revised.

What is Fingertips?

Fingertips is the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities' online collection of public health profiles for England. It lets you compare local authorities, regions and England on indicators such as life expectancy, causes of death, obesity, smoking and alcohol, with charts, maps and an open API.

What does age-standardised mortality rate mean?

An age-standardised mortality rate adjusts the death rate to a standard population age structure, so places or years with older populations can be compared fairly. It is expressed as deaths per 100,000 people. The ONS uses it as its main measure of mortality trends, because raw death counts rise as the population ages.

Is the UKHSA data dashboard still updated?

Yes. The UK Health Security Agency data dashboard covers COVID-19, flu and other infectious diseases for England and the UK, including cases, healthcare, deaths and vaccination, with an open API. Some measures are updated weekly and others less often; each chart shows when it was last updated.

Questions answered using this source

• How do I make a Freedom of Information request?
• What is the life expectancy in the UK?
• How many people die in the UK each year?
• Where can I find UK census data?
• What is the population of the UK?
• What is the leading cause of death in the UK?
• How many drug deaths are there in the UK?
• How many Covid deaths were there in the UK?
• What are excess deaths?
• What is the suicide rate in the UK?
• What is the obesity rate in the UK?
• What are vaccination rates in the UK?

Links checked 2026-10-13. This page describes what the source publishes and gives no verdict on any claim.