Deaths linked to cold spells, England (UKHSA, from 2024-25)

Extra deaths in winter compared with the rest of the year, England and Wales (ONS, to 2021-22)

What it means: UKHSA’s estimate of how many more people died during spells of cold weather than would normally be expected. Cold weather and flu often come together, so UKHSA also gives a figure that allows for flu (fainter line). The likely range for the latest winter is 1,627 to 2,759. UKHSA’s reports started in winter 2024 to 2025, so there are only two years so far. For a longer view, the second chart shows the ONS’s older measure for England and Wales, which it stopped publishing after 2021-22: all extra deaths in December to March compared with the rest of the year, from every cause including flu and Covid. It is much higher because it counts the whole winter, not just cold spells. It fell from 106,400 in 1950-51 to an average of about 29,980 a winter in the ten winters before Covid, and reached 60,760 in 2020-21. The two measures cannot be joined into one series. Shown for context.

Source: ONS, winter mortality in England and Wales, table 1; UKHSA, cold mortality monitoring reports, England, table 1.