Excess deaths series - Ages 1 to 14

Only rely on yearly totals

In children aged 1 to 14 for 2017-2023, ONS data on deaths registered weekly in England and Wales show that 2020 and 21 were low years (blue and yellow lines), with 2022 being the highest year.

AGE GROUP 1-14 (children)

The ONS also produces yearly child mortality (death cohort) tables for England and Wales. But here is where analysing this data gets tricky, as we found differences between the totals from the ONS weekly reported deaths and the totals from the yearly tables.

For example, in 2021, the yearly total from the ONS tables for England and Wales was 761 deaths. Yet, the ONS weekly registered total adds up to 812 deaths.

So what are we to make of this discrepancy as the difference is substantial (57 deaths)? The issue drives us mad: we’ve double-checked and rechecked it.

Also, within the same dataset, the numbers don’t tally. In the yearly ONS 2021 publication, Table 1 reports the childhood deaths by age bands for England and Wales combined, but in Table 2, they are r…