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There were over 600,000 death registrations in 2020
This is higher than every year in England and Wales since 1918.
An erroneous image on social media claims there were 561,529 death registrations in 2020. This image uses the Office for National Statistics logo.
Citing this image: Piers Corbyn, a London mayoral candidate, asserted:
THERE’S NO PANDEMIC!
This number for 2020 is false: there were 608,002 death registrations in England and Wales.
A false image
The table, spread on social media, shows:
There are three years where the stated figure is incorrect:
- 1998: the number of death registrations in England and Wales was 553,435. That is about 12,000 higher than what the Twitter table shows.
- 2010: there is a typographical error here: it should be 493,242.
- 2020: the provisional number is around 46,000 deaths higher than the stated figure.
This is a major error. In particular, the 2020 figure is not from the ONS. Corbyn claims:
Total deaths were higher 1990, 91, 95, 96 yet we didn’t trash the economy, jobs & freedom.
This is false. Death registrations in England and Wales were last higher in 1918 — year of a global flu pandemic.
As public health and treatments improve, the mortality rate decreases. Since 1900, the crude mortality rate has declined in most years. After around 2011, this decline in England and Wales has slowed.
The crude mortality rate is the number of death registrations for every 100,000 people. (We can also use rates per 1,000 people, or other ways of expression.) These numbers use the death of registration, rather than date of death.
From 1930 to 1980, population estimates use rounded figures for people in single years of age. That means there is a slight erosion in accuracy before 1981.
