In a boost for life insurers, death rates in England and Wales fell to their lowest recorded level in 2025, almost 2% below the previous record set in 2024, according to data released by the Continuous Mortality Investigation (CMI).
The CMI reported that death rates declined across all age groups between 2024 and 2025. Overall mortality for males and females combined was almost 7% lower than the 2015–2024 average, the organisation said in a press release.
Mortality in 2025 reached or fell below pre-pandemic levels for all groups except males aged 45–64, who continued to experience elevated death rates. This demographic has shown persistently high mortality for six consecutive years, the data showed.
“Death rates had returned to just below pre-pandemic levels in 2024,” said Cobus Daneel, chair of the CMI Mortality Projections Committee. “Encouragingly, we saw another record low in 2025, with death rates falling a further 2%.”
Deaths involving COVID-19 continued a pattern of roughly halving each year, with about 5,000 registered in 2025 compared with around 10,000 in 2024, 17,000 in 2023, and 33,000 in 2022. Deaths involving influenza or pneumonia totalled about 82,000 in 2025, slightly lower than the 85,000 to 88,000 recorded each year from 2022 to 2024.
The CMI said mortality patterns varied significantly by age and sex when compared with the 2015–2024 average.
“Despite the winter flu season arriving early, overall death rates in each of the last six weeks of 2025 were lower than in earlier years,” Daneel said.
The CMI’s calculations are based on death registration dates rather than dates of occurrence, meaning results for individual weeks may not be consistent between years because of public holiday timing and changes in registration patterns.
The organisation, part of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, publishes mortality monitors each week and releases quarterly reports with press releases. The next quarterly monitor is scheduled for April 2026.
