FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4286
You asked
Please can you release the total number of cancer deaths in the UK in 2021?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for the provision of mortality statistics for England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Therefore, we do not hold the requested data for the whole of the UK. Should you wish to obtain this data from NRS and NISRA, they can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
For deaths due to cancers there is a variety of ICD-10 codes which can be used to refer to specific cancers, alternatively there is a leading cause code for cancer which incorporates all cancers.
LC02 is the leading cause code for all malignant neoplasm.
Our NOMIS webservice provides a breakdown of deaths for ICD-10 code by requested geography, sex and age if you wish to look for a specific type of cancer for England and Wales from 2013 to 2021. The following table has been extracted from this service:
2021 statistics
| Cause of death | Total mortality | England | Wales | England and Wales | Resident outside England and Wales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A00-R99,U00-Y89 All causes, all ages | 586,334 | 549,349 | 36,135 | 585,484 | 850 |
| LC02 Cancer (malignant neoplasms) | 144,746 | 135,643 | 8,858 | 144,501 | 245 |
Download this table
.xls .csv
For any further extractions from this service, please see the following instructions for how to use NOMIS:
- Select the geography (England and Wales, regional or by local authority).
- Select Age – All ages or 5-year age bands.
- Select Gender – Total or Male/Female
- Select rates – All deaths, rates or percentage of population for example.
- Select cause of death (ICD10 code search is available).
- Select format (Excel or CSV for example)
For further information please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk