Coronavirus: Death
(asked on 10th June 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Bethell on 10 June (HL3794), why they will not provide figures for the percentage of the population who have died from COVID-19 in (1) England, (2) Scotland, (3) Wales and (4) Northern Ireland in order to facilitate a strategic assessment of comparative regional efficiencies.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes the weekly numbers of deaths registered in England and Wales, and National Records Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency are responsible for publishing the number of deaths registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively. The number of deaths involving COVID-19 are published rather than the percentage of the population who have died from COVID-19, as this is a more useful and accurate way of keeping a consistent record of death data.
The ONS also routinely publishes population estimates. The current data, for mid-2018, for the four nations of the United Kingdom allow the required percentages to be calculated as shown in the following table.
| Registered deaths involving COVID-19 | Mid-2018 population estimates | Percentage |
England | 45,016 | 56,286,961 | 0.080 |
Wales | 2,300 | 3,152,879 | 0.073 |
Scotland | 4,070 | 5,463,300 | 0.074 |
Northern Ireland | 774 | 1,893,667 | 0.041 |
Source: ONS weekly figures on death registrations week ending 5 June 2020.