Deaths: Scotland

Chart 1 shows the trend in all-cause mortality in Scotland over a period of almost 30 years (1994-2022). The figures are European age-sex standardised rates (EASRs) per 100,000 people, based on both the European Standard Population (ESP) 2013. The death rate has tended to fall steadily throughout the period, however there has been a slight stalling of this decrease in the last few years (see recent mortality trends page) and an increase in 2020 (with much of this excess due to COVID-19 deaths) followed by slight decreases in 2021 and 2022. The overall rate of decrease in mortality is slower than in many other European countries (see international comparisons page). There is also considerable variation in death rates between areas within Scotland (see pages on NHS boards, councils and deprivation quintiles).

For further details on the technique of standardisation and using the ESP, please see the Methodology page. 

Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.