Influenza deaths in the UK between 2012 to 2022

​FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3579

You asked

Please supply the number of Influenza deaths in the UK between 2012 to 2022.

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.

ONS mortality data comes from the information collected at death registration. All of the conditions mentioned on the death certificate are coded using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). From all of these causes an underlying cause of death is selected using ICD-10 coding rules. Influenza is defined using ICD-10 codes J09 to J11.

Numbers of deaths due to influenza for England and Wales are available via NOMIS for the calendar years 2013 to 2020.

Number of death registrations due to influenza, England and Wales, 2012 to 2020 ¹ ,² , ³

Notes:

1. Underlying cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes J09 to J11.                                              
2. Figures are for England and Wales and include deaths of non-residents.
3. Figures are based on deaths registered between 2012 and 2020.  Figures include deaths that were registered by 31 Dec 2020, so may be an underestimate due to registration delays.

ONS publish numbers of weekly deaths for influenza and pneumonia combined (ICD-10 codes J09-J18) for England and Wales, 2021 to 2022, in our weekly deaths publication. You can view the reference tables here.  Please refer to Table 3 of our latest publication for 2022 data.  Figures for 2021 are available here.

We have not yet produced analysis of deaths from influenza alone for 2021 or 2022. Influenza deaths registered in 2021 will be published via NOMIS in July 2022. Bespoke tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales, are available to order, subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate.  Such enquiries would fall outside of the Freedom of Information regime and should be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.

Public Health England publish annual influenza surveillance reports; these are available here:  Annual flu reports.

If you wish to discuss this request further, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.