The latest research by Final Duties, the UK’s most experienced probate brokers, reveals that 2023 saw the number of annual deaths in England & Wales increase for the first time since the pandemic.
The analysis by Final Duties tracks the number of reported quarterly deaths across England & Wales and how this figure has changed on both a quarterly and annual basis.
The latest data released last week (Dec 2023) from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows that there were 580,073 deaths in England & Wales in 2023, and the analysis by Final Duties shows that this marked a 0.7% increase on the total figure seen the previous year (2022).
This is the first time the number of annual deaths has increased since the pandemic year of 2020. Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the number of deaths registered across England and Wales increased by 14.6% in 2020, however, this figure had been declining, first by -3.6% in 2021 and then by -1.6% in 2022.
All but two regions see annual increase
All but two regions of England & Wales have seen an annual increase in recorded deaths in 2023, with the highest increase of 2% recorded in the North East.
The South East recorded the highest increase in the actual number of deaths, as 2023 saw the number increase by 1,050 compared to 2022. This marks an annual increase of 1.2%.
The East Midlands and West Midlands also saw deaths rise by 1.2%, followed by Wales (1%), the South West (0.7%), East of England (0.5%), and North West (0.3%).
The only regions to see the number of deaths decline are Yorkshire & Humber (-0.4%) and London (-0.1%).
Quarterly change
As for quarterly change, England & Wales saw an increase of 10.4% between Q3 2023 and Q4 2023, bringing the quarterly total up to 141,709.
Every region of England & Wales saw its own death rate increase on the quarter, too, nowhere more so than the East Midlands where the figure rose by 13.1%.
The other regions to record above average annual increases are the North West (12.3%), West Midlands (11.4%), East of England (10.8%), and North East (10.7%).
However, when the data is analysed on a more local level, it’s revealed that some areas of the country saw even bigger quarterly death rate increases.
Nowhere did deaths increase more in Q4 2023 than in Boston, Lincolnshire, where the number soared by almost 50% (44.8%) to hit a quarterly total of 223 deaths.
This is followed by South Staffordshire (37.8%), Trafford (35%), Ashford (34.8%), Welwyn Hatfield (34.2%), Ryedale (34%), Ipswich (33.2%), Oadby & Wigston (32%), Tandridge (30.6%), and King’s Lynn & West Norfolk (30.5%).
Data tables
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