Excess Winter Deaths in Wales, 2007/2008 (provisional)

Statistics on excess winter deaths include data for Wales and England for the period up to the winter of 2007-2008. The latest release updates the bulletin previously released on 29 January 2008 and is based on statistics released by the ONS on 27 November 2008.

The key points from the latest bulletin are:

• There were provisionally around 1,500 excess winter deaths in Wales in winter 2007/2008, 7% more than in the previous winter (1,400 excess winter deaths).
• In winter 2007/2008 over four fifths (87%) of excess winter deaths involved people aged 75 or over.
• The highest rates of excess winter deaths relate to people aged 85 or over. In winter 2007/2008 the rate was less than 1 per 10,000 population for those aged 0-64 but increased to 33 per 10,000 for those aged 75-84 and 100 per 10,000 for those aged 85 or over.
• The number of deaths in Wales in winter 2007/2008 was provisionally 15.6% higher than the average non-winter deaths, up from 14.1% in the previous winter.

Contact

Tel: 029 2082 5036
E-mail: stats.healthinfo@wales.gsi.gov.uk