Health

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 many people have had COVID-19? The challenge of reinfections

Categories: Coronavirus, Data, Health, Office for National Statistics, ONS, Population

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.

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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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Boosting the UK’s research capabilities to help solve the challenges of the day

Categories: Data, Health, Integrated Data Service, Public Policy, Research, Secure Research Service, Wellbeing

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.   

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