Death Registrations
2008 mortality rates lowest ever recorded
Age-standardised mortality rate for all causes by sex, England and Wales
There were 509,090 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2008, of which 243,014 were male and 266,076 female. Age-standardised mortality rates for males and females were 6,854 and 4,898 deaths per million population respectively, which are the lowest rates ever recorded in England and Wales. Compared with the 2007 rates, this represents a fall of 1.4 per cent for males and 0.5 per cent for females.
Over the course of the 20th century, there were steady falls in these rates, although during the first half of the century, year-on-year fluctuations were particularly noticeable, due mainly to influenza epidemics and unusually cold winters. The age-standardised mortality rate for males fell from 25,829 per million in 1901, to 8,477 in 2000. The age-standardised rate for females fell from 21,705 to 5,679 per million over the same period. These trends have continued in the 21st century.
At the beginning of the last century more than half of all deaths occurred under the age of 45. In 2008, only 4 per cent of deaths occurred at ages under 45. There were 3,370 infant deaths (under one year of age) registered in England and Wales in 2008, giving a rate of 4.8 per 1,000 live births. This remains the lowest infant mortality rate ever recorded in England and Wales and compares with rates in 1901 of 151 per 1,000 live births, and 30 per 1,000 in 1951.
Childhood mortality has also declined, while decreases in the death rates for young adults (ages 15-44) were mainly seen in the first half of the 20th century. Deaths at the age of 75 and over comprised only 12 per cent of all deaths in 1901, rising to 39 per cent in 1951 and 67 per cent in 2008.
Source: Death registrations: Office for National Statistics
Notes: All figures are based on deaths registered in the data year and include deaths of persons usually resident outside England and Wales.
The age-standardised mortality rates for 2008 are final due to the release of the 2008 mid-year population estimates in August 2009.
The age-standardised mortality rates cover all ages and are directly standardised to the European Standard Population, expressed per million population. They allow comparisons between populations with different age structures, including between males and females and over time.
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