Higher number of deaths reported this year

There was a higher number of deaths registered in the year-to-date than the same period in the years 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016.

This data was recorded between January to 30 September 2017.

According to The Office of National Statistics, there were also two periods in Quarter 3 where the number of deaths that occurred was higher than the five-year average (5 to 7 July and 13 to 29 September); however, these days did not coincide with any periods of extreme weather.

From 1 July to 30 September 2017 there were 111,849 deaths registered in England. This is higher than the same quarter in both 2015 and the average of the previous five years but 383 lower than the number of deaths registered in the same quarter in 2016.

The high number of deaths registered in 2017 so far appears to be driven by higher than average numbers of deaths in the winter period.

The number of deaths registered in Quarters 2 and 3 of 2017 are much closer to the five-year average than those registered in Quarter 1.