Weekly deaths bulletin – week ending 31 December 2021

The tables and bulletin containing data on deaths registered for the week ending 31 December 2021 were released at 9.30am today.

Key points 

Date of registration

• The provisional number of total deaths registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending 31 December 2021 (week 51) was 243, 104 less than the previous week (347) and 57 less than the 2016-2020 5 year average (300) (Table 1). The number of deaths registered in weeks 51 and 52 will, however,  be impacted by the Christmas and New Year office holidays.
• Fourteen deaths mentioning Covid-19 on the death certificate were registered in week 52 of 2021, accounting for 5.8% of all deaths registered in that week. This is a decrease of 16 from the previous week.
• The total number of Covid-19 related deaths registered from the start of the pandemic was 4,013 by 31 December 2021.
• From the start of the pandemic (from the first Covid-19 related death being registered on 19 March 2020) to 31 December 2021, males and females accounted for relatively equal proportions of all deaths registered (males: 50.1%, females: 49.9%), however, males accounted for a higher proportion of Covid-19 related deaths registered (males: 53.2%; female 46.8%). (Figure 3).
• Since the beginning of the pandemic to 31 December 2021, the 75 years and over age-group accounted for almost two-thirds (65.1%) of all deaths and three-quarters (73.5%) of Covid-19 related deaths (Figure 4).
• Over the period of the pandemic, Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon and Mid-Ulster Local Government Districts have had higher proportions of Covid-19 related deaths (12.4% and 8.1% respectively) compared with their share of all deaths in Northern Ireland (10.4% and 6.6% respectively).

Covid-19 deaths based on date of death

• 4,024 deaths mentioning Covid-19 on the death certificate have occurred in total from 18 March 2020 to 31 December 2021 (including those registered up to and including 5 January). The comparative number of deaths reported by the Department of Health (DoH) to 31 December was 2,982.
• At time of reporting, eighteen Covid-19 related deaths had occurred in week ending 31 December.
• Of these 4,024 deaths involving Covid-19, 2,806 (69.7%) occurred in hospital, 868 (21.6%) occurred in care homes, 16 (0.4%) occurred in hospices and 334 (8.3%) occurred at residential addresses or another location.

A weekly deaths dashboard is also available.

The tables and other related documents are available from the weekly deaths webpage

If you would like to receive alerts about Vital Statistics releases, please email demography@nisra.gov.uk

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