Introduction
This profile bring 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. This provides a wide range of publicly available resources and makes it easier to assess outcomes across a range of causes of death.
Indicators
Indicators are presented in five topics:
Premature mortality
Mortality rates for deaths under age 75 for all causes combined and leading causes of death.
Leading causes of death - all ages
Mortality rates for deaths in all ages for all causes combined and leading causes of death.
Preventable mortality
Mortality rates for causes of death which are considered preventable. These are causes where all or most deaths could potentially be prevented by public health interventions in the broadest sense.
COVID-19 mortality
Mortality rates for deaths due to and deaths involving COVID-19.
Other mortality
Indicators for deaths related to a range of risk factors, including smoking, drug misuse and air pollution. This domain also includes mortality rates for all causes in all ages, rates of infant deaths, suicides and killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties on England's roads.
Impact of updated mid-year population estimates on Fingertips indicators
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released 2021 mid-year population estimates, based on the results of the 2021 Census. They are not comparable with estimates for previous years. Rebased estimates for 2012 to 2020 will be published in due course.
Indicators which use mid-year population estimates as their denominators are affected by this change. Where an indicator has been updated to 2021, the non-comparable historical data are not available through Fingertips or in the API, but are made available in csv format through a link in the indicator metadata. Comparable back series data will be added once the rebased populations are available.
Contact us
For enquiries or feedback relating to the Mortality profile, email profilefeedback@dhsc.gov.uk.
Recent updates
For information on updates to indicators, please refer to the table of updates.
March 2023
13 indicators have been added to the tool within this release.
- 12 have been created specifically for this release, including mortality rates for deaths due to COVID-19 and deaths from dementia and Alzheimer's disease
- 1 indicator has been copied over from the Public Health Outcomes Framework
23 indicators have been updated within this release.
- 8 indicators have previously been produced for the Mortality Profile, including mortality rates for all causes and deaths involving COVID-19
- 15 indicators have been drawn from other profiles, including preventable mortality rates
Full details can be found in the table of updates, available at the top of this section.
January 2022
The following indicators have been added to the tool, with single year data presented for 2020:
Premature Mortality
- Mortality rate for deaths involving COVID-19, under 75s
Other Mortality
- Mortality rate for deaths involving COVID-19, all ages
These indicators have also been included in a separate domain for COVID-19 mortality.
These indicators have been added in order to provide a more complete picture of mortality for local areas going forward.
December 2021
To show the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the following indicators are now presented as single years from 2001 to 2020 (aside from under 75 mortality rate from injuries). The 3-year rolling rates up to 2017 to 2019 are also available to view (with 2018 to 2020 available for all cause and injuries indicators) and have been updated with the latest comparability ratios:
Premature Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from all causes
- Under 75 mortality rate from heart disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from stroke
- Under 75 mortality rate from breast cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from colorectal cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from injuries
Other Mortality
- Mortality rate from lung cancer (persons only for single year indicator)
- Mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (persons only for single year indicator)
The following indicator has been added to the tool, with single year data presented from 2001 to 2020 and 3-year rolling rates from 2001 to 2003 up to 2018 to 2020:
Other Mortality
- Mortality rate for all causes, all ages
The following indicators have had their indicator methods updated with new time periods presented:
Other Mortality
- Smoking attributable mortality
- Smoking attributable mortality from heart disease
- Smoking attributable mortality from stroke
- Killed and seriously injured (KSI) casualties on England's roads
The following indicators have been pulled through from other profiles:
Premature Mortality
- Premature mortality in adults with severe mental illness (SMI)
- Excess under 75 mortality rate in adults with severe mental illness (SMI)
Preventable Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from causes considered preventable (2019 definition)
November 2021
To show the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, the following indicators are now presented as single years from 2001 to 2020. The 3-year rolling rates up to 2017 to 2019 are also available to view and have been updated with the latest comparability ratios:
Premature Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases
- Under 75 mortality rate from cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from liver disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease
Preventable Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases considered preventable (2019 definition)
- Under 75 mortality rate from cancer considered preventable (2019 definition)
- Under 75 mortality rate from liver diseases considered preventable (2019 definition)
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory diseases considered preventable (2019 definition)
The following indicators have been updated to the latest time period:
Other Mortality
- Infant mortality
- Deaths from drug misuse
- Suicide rate
- Fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution
December 2020
The following indicators have been updated to 2017-19:
Premature Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate for all causes
- Under 75 mortality rate from heart disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from stroke
- Under 75 mortality rate from breast cancer (females only)
- Under 75 mortality rate from colorectal cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from injuries
November 2020
The following indicators have been updated to 2017-19:
Premature Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases
- Under 75 mortality rate from cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from liver disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease
Preventable Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases considered preventable (2019 definition)
- Under 75 mortality rate from cancer considered preventable (2019 definition)
- Under 75 mortality rate from liver diseases considered preventable (2019 definition)
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory diseases considered preventable (2019 definition)
Other Mortality
- Infant mortality
- Mortality from lung cancer
- Mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Deaths from drug misuse
- Suicide rate
January 2020
The following indicators have been updated to 2016-18:
- Under 75 mortality rate for all causes
- Under 75 mortality rate from heart disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from stroke
- Under 75 mortality rate from breast cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from colorectal cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from injuries
- Infant Mortality rate
November 2019
The following indicators have been updated to 2016-18:
Premature Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases
- Under 75 mortality rate from cancer
- Under 75 mortality rate from liver disease
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory disease
Preventable Mortality
- Under 75 mortality rate from cardiovascular diseases considered preventable
- Under 75 mortality rate from cancer considered preventable
- Under 75 mortality rate from liver diseases considered preventable
- Under 75 mortality rate from respiratory diseases considered preventable
Other Mortality
- Mortality from lung cancer
- Mortality rate from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Smoking attributable mortality
- Smoking attributable deaths from heart disease
- Smoking attributable deaths from stroke
- Deaths from drug misuse
- Suicide rate
December 2018
First release of the Mortality Profile. Most recent data for the majority of indicators are for 2015-17.
