November's age-standardised mortality rate was 8% higher than the five-year average, and there were 5,000 more deaths than last month. However, much of the increase was accounted for by non-Covid causes.
October's age-standardised mortality rate was about equal to the five-year average – slightly lower in fact. This suggests that many of the non-Covid 'excess' deaths we've seen recently are due to population ageing.
New figures from the ONS show that, between January 2020 and June 2021, Sweden had *negative* excess mortality. This constitutes a complete vindication of Anders Tegnell's "trust-based" approach. Well done, professor!
A new report from the OECD shows that UK life expectancy in 2020 was still at 2010 levels and over 80 – which hardly seems a disaster worth sacrificing our health, economy and freedom over.
The latest report from the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries includes the encouraging news that 2021 so far is an average year for deaths, but the worrying news of high mortality in the under-65s.
Excessive focus on 'official' death numbers has led to a distorted picture of the pandemic’s impact on mortality – both total and over time. Tracking age-adjusted excess mortality provides a much-needed corrective.
September was the first month of the year in which several causes of death other than Covid were above their five-year averages. After months of disruption, are we now seeing the impact of lockdown on mortality?
August's age-standardised mortality rate was 2.5% higher than the five-year average. But looking at age-adjusted mortality in the first eight months of the year, 2021 is the sixth least deadly year on record.
The age-standardised rate from January through July was only 0.8% higher than the five-year average. Another month without many excess deaths and 2021 will officially be an 'average year' for English mortality.
June's age-standardised mortality rate was the second-lowest on record for that month. England has now had *four months in a row* of "negative excess mortality". Average mortality up to June was lower than in 2018.
