Research

Inclusive Income: How COVID-19 affected our new measures

Categories: Data, Economy, Office for National Statistics, ONS, Research
Image of grandparents playing with a baby

Our headline measure of the size of the economy, Gross Domestic Product, is produced rapidly and relied on widely. So it’s no surprise that when the pandemic hit in 2020 we saw a focus on the rapid fall in output it revealed. But how does our understanding change if we take a wider perspective on the economy and account for the sustainability of economic activity? Here Cliodhna Taylor looks at some wider metrics that we have just published for that period.

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Working together to improve health and social care statistics

Categories: Coronavirus, Health, Office for National Statistics, Office for Statistics Regulation, Population, Research, Wellbeing
Baby visits doctor

The COVID-19 pandemic placed health and social care statistics into the headlines, encompassing a wide range of vital topics such as mortality, vaccine uptake, mental health and other health impacts. Nearly four years on from the first news reports of the ‘coronavirus’, the interest in health data and statistics has continued to grow. Julie Stanborough explains how we are working collaboratively with other data producers to improve health and social care statistics, and how you can have your say.

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Sociodemographic inequalities of dying by suicide

Categories: Census, Health, Population, Research

Reducing the number of people who die by suicide is of paramount importance. Every death from suicide is a tragedy, and behind every statistic is an individual, a family, and a community devastated by their loss. Today we have produced analysis estimating the rates of suicide by sociodemographic characteristics to understand which groups of people are at the highest risk. Here, Isobel Ward explains the research and why it is so important.

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How do we measure expected and excess deaths?

Categories: Coronavirus, Health, Office for National Statistics, ONS, Population, Research, Wellbeing
Close up image of death certificate

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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