Death Registrations
Deaths fall below half a million
Age-standardised mortality rate for all causes by sex, England and Wales
There were 491,348 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2009 compared with 509,090 death registrations in 2008. Of these 238,062 were male deaths and 253,286 female. This represents a 3.5 per cent fall overall with a decrease of 2.0 per cent for males and 4.8 per cent for females. The last time annual death registrations fell below half a million was in 1952.
Age-standardised mortality rates have continued their downward trend in 2009 with 6,573 deaths per million population for males and 4,628 deaths per million population for females. These are the lowest annual rates ever recorded in England and Wales. Compared with the 2008 rates, this represents a fall of 4.1 per cent for males and 5.5 per cent for females.
Over the course of the 20th Century, there have been fairly steady decreases in these rates. However, during the first half of that century, year-on-year fluctuations were higher, due mainly to influenza epidemics and unusually cold winters. The age-standardised mortality rate for males fell from 25,829 deaths per million in 1901, to 8,477 in 2000. The age-standardised rate for females fell from 21,705 to 5,679 deaths per million over the same period. These trends have continued in the 21st Century. Between 2001 and 2009 the mortality rate for males fell 20 per cent (from 8,230 to 6,573 deaths per million), while for females it decreased by 17 per cent (from 5,566 to 4,628 per million).
At the beginning of the last century more than half of all deaths occurred under the age of 45. In 2009, only 4.4 per cent of deaths occurred under the age of 45. There were 3,312 infant deaths (under one year of age) registered in England and Wales in 2009, giving a rate of 4.7 per 1,000 live births. This remains the lowest infant mortality rate ever recorded (based on registrations) 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 age 75 and over comprised only 12 per cent of all deaths in 1901, rising to 39 per cent in 1951 and 66 per cent in 2009.
Source: 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 2009 have been finalised following the release of the mid-2009 population estimates on 24 June 2010.
Revised mid-2002 to mid-2008 population estimates were published on 13 May 2010. These revised estimates have been used in the calculation of age-standardised mortality rates for 2002 – 2008. Consequently, some figures may differ from those previously published.
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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