Since the appearance of Omicron variants in December 2021, the number of people being reinfected with COVID-19 has increased markedly. As Leanne Massie explains, this affects our ability to estimate the total number of people who have had COVID-19 at least once.
Read more on How many people have had COVID-19? The challenge of reinfections
There has been widespread interest in the number of excess deaths across the UK. That is, the difference between the actual number of deaths observed and the number that was expected. But how do you calculate the expected number of deaths? Sarah Caul explains a new cross-UK initiative to take stock of how we calculate expected, and excess, deaths.
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Since 2011, the ONS has been measuring ‘National Well-being’ to evaluate how we are doing as a nation. National Well-being includes the things that people have told us matter most to them, across the environment, society and economy. Here Liz McKeown looks at our GDP & Beyond work, focusing on responses to our recent online survey reviewing how we measure National Well-being.
Read more on What matters most to people in the UK and has that changed over time?
As well as changing our trading relationships with the European Union, the departure of the United Kingdom from the EU has changed the way that trade in goods is recorded. The continuity of the UK’s international trade figures has therefore also been affected. In this post Hannah Donnarumma summarises recent changes and how the ONS is responding to their impact on our headline statistics.
Read more on Trading places: How we are producing consistent estimates of trade figures following the UK’s EU exit
In an uncertain world, how is public data helping us to tackle complex and cross-cutting issues in society?
This is just one question we answer in the latest episode of Statistically Speaking, as we take a closer look at an aspect of the ONS’s work that is less well-known but arguably just as important. Joining Miles for this episode are Jason Yaxley, Director of ONS’ Integrated Data Programme; Bill South, Deputy Director of the Research Services and Data Access division at ONS; and Dr. Becky Arnold, award winning researcher from Keele University.
Read more on Boosting the UK’s research capabilities to help solve the challenges of the day