ONS Statistics

All our statistics on mortality in England and Wales come from death registrations.

Death registrations in 2025

• There were 570,988 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2025, an increase of 0.4% compared with 2024 (568,613 deaths).
• The age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) in England and Wales was 913 deaths per 100,000 people, the lowest since our time series began in 1994.
• Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease continued to be the leading cause of death in England and Wales, with 72,272 deaths registered (12.7% of all deaths).
• For the fourth consecutive year, the North East was the region of England with the highest ASMRs for both males (1,189) and females (880); among females, this rate has remained highest in the North East since 2015.
• In Wales, Merthyr Tydfil continued to have the highest ASMR for males (1,509); Blaenau Gwent continued to have the highest ASMR for females (1,033).

Death occurrences in 2024 and previous years

• 567,608 deaths occurred in England and Wales in 2024 and were registered by the end of March 2026.
• In contrast, 571,010 deaths occurred in England and Wales in 2023 and were registered by the end of March 2025.
• 589,293 deaths occurred in 2022 and were registered by the end of March 2024.

The difference between death registrations and occurrences

There is usually a delay between the date when a death occurs and the date it is registered. The number of days between death occurrence and registration varies, and can be longer in certain cases, such as when a death is referred to a coroner.

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With these statistics, you can:

• explore complete and consistent data for long-term analysis by using death registrations
• find a fair indication of trends reflected in death occurrences, but the time lag between registration and occurrence can mean figures change, so figures may not match previous years
• compare deaths between different groups of people and time periods more meaningfully because we use age-standardised mortality rates that allow for age differences in the structure of populations

With these statistics, you cannot:

• get final estimates for death occurrences in 2024; we have used provisional death registration data for 2026 in our death occurrence figures for 2024

Find more guidance in the Quality, methods and data sources section.

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Figure 1: The age-standardised mortality rate in 2025 was the lowest in 30 years

Number of registered deaths and age-standardised mortality rate, England and Wales, 1994 to 2025

Short-term trends

• There were 570,988 deaths registered in England and Wales in 2025, an increase of 0.4% compared with 2024 (568,613 deaths).
• The age-standardised mortality rate (ASMR) in England and Wales was 913 deaths per 100,000 people.

Long-term trends

• The number of deaths registered in England and Wales has fallen since 2020 but is still slightly higher than 30 years ago (551,780 deaths in 1994).
• The ASMR was the lowest since our time series began in 1994.

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Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease continued to be the leading cause of death in 2025, accounting for 12.7% of all registered deaths (72,272 registrations).

Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease has been the leading cause of death since 2022.

These leading causes, and their ordering, were the same in both England and Wales.

Figure 2: Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease continued to be the leading cause of death in 2025

Death registrations by top six leading causes (accounting for 42% of total deaths), England and Wales, 2025