Official Statistics

Mortality Profile commentary: November 2024

Published 5 November 2024

Applies to England

What’s new

Fifty-one indicators within the Mortality Profile have been updated, providing new data for the single year of 2023 and for the 3-year average of 2021 to 2023.

Updated indicators are listed in the Appendix below.

Main findings

Geographical inequalities: regions and local authorities

This update shows that in the most recent period, 2021 to 2023, for persons of all ages:

• the mortality rate from all causes in England decreased to 981 per 100,000 population, but substantial inequalities between different parts of the country remain
• the North East had the highest all cause mortality rate (1,105 per 100,000), 22% higher than the South East, the region with the lowest rate (902 per 100,000)
• Blackpool was the lower tier local authority with the highest mortality rate, 82% higher than Hart, the authority with the lowest rate

For persons under age 75:

• the premature mortality rate (aged under 75) from all causes in England decreased to 349 per 100,000 population but regional rates ranged from 305 per 100,000 in the South East to 418 in the North East
• Blackpool was the local authority with the highest premature mortality rates for all principal causes. Compared with Hart, the area with the lowest rates, Blackpool’s premature mortality was 3.0 times higher for all causes, 3.2 times higher for cardiovascular disease, 2.3 times higher for cancer and 6.7 times higher for respiratory disease

Recent trends

This update shows that between 2022 and 2023:

• the mortality rate from all causes reduced significantly for both sexes, but the 2023 rates were still significantly higher than pre-pandemic rates for 2019: 4% higher for males and 3% for females
• there was a significant increase in the mortality rate for persons of all ages from respiratory diseases as a whole, as well as specific respiratory diseases, including influenza and pneumonia, chronic lower respiratory disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Rates for these respiratory diseases have all increased since 2021
• following a small increase between 2021 and 2022, cancer mortality fell significantly between 2022 and 2023. Apart from the increase in 2022, there have been gradual, year-on-year reductions in the cancer mortality rate since 2001
• the cardiovascular disease mortality rate, for persons of all ages, fell significantly. This followed an upward trend in cardiovascular disease mortality between 2019 and 2022, however the 2023 rate remains significantly higher than 2019
• the trend is similar for premature cardiovascular mortality. There was a small fall between 2022 and 2023, which was not statistically significant, and the 2023 rate remains significantly higher than 2019
• mortality from COVID-19 continued to fall: for persons of all ages, the rate in 2023 was almost half the rate in 2022

Long term trends

The Mortality Profile provides data from 2001 to 2023. Figures 1 and 2 illustrate trend data for that period for principal causes of death, which shows that:

• between 2001 and 2023, mortality rates from cardiovascular disease fell by 48% for males and 52% for females. This is bigger than the decrease for cancer (25% for males and 18% for females) but the level of improvement for cardiovascular disease slowed in the decade before the pandemic, and the rate increased between 2019 and 2022

• mortality rates for respiratory disease fell between 2001 and 2023, by 32% for males and 25% for females, but rates for Alzheimer’s disease and dementia increased steadily over this period (by 57% for males and 90% for females)

Figure 1: male age-standardised mortality rates for principal causes of death, all ages, England, 2001 to 2023.

Figure 2: female age-standardised mortality rates for principal causes of death, all ages, England, 2001 to 2023.

The data also shows that:

• mortality rates for liver disease increased between 2001 and 2023, by 51% for males and 42% for females

• accidental deaths increased for both sexes between 2011 to 2013 and 2021 to 2023, by 39% for males and 30% for females

• deaths involving diabetes and hypertensive diseases both increased between 2001 and 2023. Rates for deaths involving diabetes increased by 96% for males and 76% for females. Rates for deaths involving hypertensive diseases more than doubled, increasing by 147% for males and 131% for females. Despite significant falls in 2023, rates for both causes remained higher than 2019

Background

The Mortality Profile brings together a selection of mortality indicators, including from other Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) data tools such as the Public Health Outcomes Framework, making it easier to assess outcomes across a range of causes of death.

The Mortality Profile provides mortality rates for both selected chapters within the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) and specific causes within chapters. The choice is based primarily on leading causes of mortality with the highest numbers of deaths and causes that are of particular public health interest.    

Mortality rates produced for the Mortality Profile are directly age-standardised rates, which adjust for differences in the age structure of the population between areas and population groups.

Indicators have been produced using 3-year moving averages and (where appropriate) single year time periods, for England, English regions, NHS regions, upper and lower tier local authorities, and integrated care boards. Deprivation deciles based on upper and lower tier local authorities are also available. Indicators for NHS regions and integrated care boards were not updated in November 2024 as population estimates for these areas were not available. 

To make counts of cause-specific deaths comparable over time, comparability ratios have been used. More information on comparability ratios can be found in the ‘Definitions’ view of cause-specific indicators within the Mortality Profile.

Revisions

Due to corrections to mid-2022 populations at national and sub-national levels, to account for updated estimates of international migration in England and Wales, data has been revised for the single year of 2022 and for the 3-year average of 2020 to 2022. This change has had a minor impact on the rates for these time periods. Across all indicators, for all local authorities, the biggest change was an increase in the all cause mortality rate of 2 per 100,000 population.  

For enquiries or feedback relating to the Mortality Profile, email profilefeedback@dhsc.gov.uk.

Appendix

In this update, the following indicators have been updated, with data added for the 3-year average of 2021 to 2023, the single year of 2023, and revised data for the 3-year average of 2020 to 2022 and the single year of 2022:

• mortality rate from all causes, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from cancer, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from lung cancer, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from breast cancer, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from prostate cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from leukaemia and lymphoma, all ages
• mortality rate from colorectal cancer, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from cardiovascular disease, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from ischaemic heart disease, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from stroke, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate for deaths involving hypertensive disease, all ages
• mortality rate for deaths involving diabetes, all ages
• mortality rate from liver disease, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from cirrhosis and other diseases of liver, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from respiratory disease, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from influenza and pneumonia, all ages
• mortality rate for deaths involving influenza and pneumonia, all ages
• mortality rate from chronic lower respiratory disease, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, all ages
• mortality rate for deaths due to COVID-19, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate for deaths involving COVID-19, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, all ages
• mortality rate for deaths involving dementia and Alzheimer’s, all ages
• under 75 mortality rate from causes considered preventable
• under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular disease considered preventable
• under 75 mortality rate from cancer considered preventable
• under 75 mortality rate from liver disease considered preventable
• under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease considered preventable

The following indicators have been updated, with data added for the 3-year average of 2021 to 2023 and revised data for the 3-year average of 2020 to 2022:

• under 75 mortality rate from leukaemia and lymphoma
• mortality rate from oesophageal cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from bladder cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from stomach cancer, all ages
• mortality rate from accidents, all ages and under 75s
• mortality rate from accidental falls, all ages
• mortality rate from infectious and parasitic diseases, all ages

The indicator for ‘killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties on England’s roads’, drawn from the Public Health Outcomes Framework, has been updated with data for 2023.