• March 28, 2024
 2016 saw decline in deaths

2016 saw decline in deaths

2016 saw a fall in the number of registered deaths after the large spike in the previous year.

In England and Wales, the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures indicated that 525,048 deaths were registered during 2016, a 0.9% drop from 2015, which saw the greatest yearly percentage growth in almost 50 years.

However, whilst the year a fall in the total number of deaths, there was a rise of 0.2% in the number of male deaths registered. This contrasts with the change in the number of female death, which saw a drop of 1.9%.

Given that the number of deaths is influenced by the age structure and size of the population, age-standardised mortality rates (ASMRs) provide a better measure of mortality, particularly in relation to assessing gender and death.

In comparison to 2015, ASMRs fell for both men and women – more significantly for the latter at 3.0% than the former at 2.4%.

Whilst the number of deaths registered for those 75 and over saw a fall in 2016, deaths of those aged between 65 and 74 saw an increase on the previous year.

Broadly speaking, cancer remained the most common cause of death, being the listed cause for around 28.5% of registered deaths. Compared to 2015, this is a rise of 1.1%.

Commenting on the figures was Vasita Patel, from the Vital Statistics Outputs Branch at the ONS.  She stated: “We’ve seen a decline in deaths in 2016 compared with 2015, notably amongst those aged over 75.

“However, the number of deaths among those aged 65 to 74 has actually increased, which might mean we are seeing those born in the peak immediately after World War 2 moving into old age.”

The full ONS report can be accessed here.

Georgia Owen

Georgia is the Senior Content Executive and will be your primary contact when submitting your latest news. While studying for an LLB at the University of Liverpool, Georgia gained experience working within retail, as well as social media management. She later went on to work for a local newspaper, before starting at Today’s Wills and Probate.