Alcohol-specific deaths in the UK: registered in 2023

Deaths caused by diseases known to be a direct consequence of alcohol, by age, sex, and region.

Main points

In 2023:

• 10,473 deaths from alcohol-specific causes were registered in the UK, the highest number on record.
• The rate of alcohol-specific deaths (15.9 per 100,000 people) decreased slightly compared to 2022 (16.6 deaths per 100,000 people).
• For the first time since 2020, rates for those aged between 25 and 59 years decreased. Rates for those aged between 20 to 24 and 60+ years remained similar to 2022.
• Consistent with previous years, the rate of alcohol-specific deaths for males was around double the rate for females (21.9 and 10.3 deaths per 100,000 people, respectively).
• England and Wales both had an increase in the rate of alcohol-specific deaths (15.0 and 17.7 deaths per 100,000 people, respectively) compared to 2022.
• Scotland and Northern Ireland continued to have the highest rate of alcohol-specific deaths (22.6 and 18.5 deaths per 100,000 people, respectively), with the rate in Scotland remaining unchanged and a decrease in Northern Ireland compared to 2022.
• The North East had the highest rate of alcohol-specific deaths of any English region (25.7 deaths per 100,000). The East of England had the lowest rate (11.5 deaths per 100,000).

Commenting on today’s release, David Mais, Data & Analysis for Social Care and Health Division, Office for National Statistics, said:

“Today’s results show 10,473 alcohol-specific deaths were registered in the UK in 2023. This is an increase of 4.2% compared to 2022 and continues the upward trend we have seen since 2018. However, rates decreased for the first time since 2020 for people aged between 25 and 59 years.”