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Excess Deaths and the Daily Mail
A Daily Mail graph claims deaths are “barely any higher”.
On 20th November, the Daily Mail asserted: “fatalities aren’t any higher”.
This is false. The Daily Mail showed figures “adjusted for population growth” from a Twitter account. The change is in error — appearing to assume an implausible population growth in a year. Journalists should use official statistics for weekly deaths in their articles.
“Fatalities aren’t any higher”
As part of their article, Ross Clark (Daily Mail) wrote:
Despite what the fear-mongers would have you think, deaths are not far above average for this time of year as the graph above shows.
The accompanying graph is:
The caption is important:
Sources: ONS Weekly Deaths Report November 10. Upper/Lower Range ONS. Adjusted for Population Growth. Produced by: Statistics Guy
The amended series are not official statistics. The Office for National Statistics publishes weekly death registration statistics. These statistics — published each Tuesday — cover England and Wales. Instead, the article used figures “adjusted for population growth” from a Twitter account.
