Health

New ways to access Census 2021 data

Crowds of people walking through a busy street

At the Office for National Statistics, we want to give you the power to find and compare all the combinations of data you want from Census 2021. We have now released billions of statistics from the information you gave us in response to the Census. Here Jen Woolford explains how ‘Create a custom dataset’ is a unique innovation for official statistics and how it is just one of the products coming this year to help you find the data you want. 

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Assessing the benefits and risks of vaccinations in young people 

Stock vaccine image

Since the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, it has been vital to monitor the impact of vaccinations on mortality. As with any vaccine, this includes assessing the protection the vaccine offers against infection and severe outcomes, but also measuring the potential side effects and adverse events. The balance of risk and benefit becomes particularly important in groups where the likelihood of severe outcomes from COVID-19 is lower, as in younger people. Here, Charlotte Bermingham discusses new ONS analysis on vaccine safety in the context of young people.  

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Sociodemographic inequalities of dying by suicide

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

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?

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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