Registrar General Reports on Deaths Last Winter

27 October 2010

New figures released today by the Registrar General show that, despite the unusually cold weather, there were fewer deaths in Scotland last winter than in the previous one, and that the long-term trend is downward.

There were 19,688 deaths in Scotland in the four months of winter 2009/10 (December to March), compared with 20,532 in winter 2008/09. Despite the unusually cold weather, winter 2009/10 had the second lowest number of deaths registered in the twenty most recent winters - only slightly more than the lowest figure for that period (which was 19,651 deaths in winter 2005/06).

Speaking about the publication of ‘Increased Winter Mortality in Scotland 2009/10’, the Registrar General for Scotland, Duncan Macniven, said:

“Last winter, the seasonal increase in the number of deaths was less than in the previous winter, despite the unusually cold weather.

"The long-term trend is clearly downward. We have calculated these figures for the last 59 winters – and the most recent ten winters have had four of the six lowest numbers of additional deaths.

“There is no single cause of additional deaths in winter. Very few are caused by hypothermia. Most are from respiratory and circulatory diseases such as pneumonia, coronary heart disease and stroke. In only a small proportion of deaths is influenza recorded as the underlying cause.”

The 19,688 deaths in the four winter months of 2009/10 exceeded both the 17,059 deaths in the preceding four-month period and the 16,789 deaths in the following four-month period. The seasonal difference (comparing the four winter months with the average of the four-month periods before and after the winter, and rounding the result) was 2,760 for winter 2009/10 – compared with 3,510 for winter 2008/09.

Since the start of the series (winter 1951/52), the lowest seasonal difference was for winter 2005/06 (1,780), the second lowest was for winter 2001/02 (1,840), and the fifth and sixth lowest were for 2007/08 and 2000/01 (2,180 and 2,220, respectively). Therefore, the latest ten winters have had four of the six lowest figures recorded.

The full publication, Increased Winter Mortality in Scotland 2009/10, is available on this website.