The latest figures from National Records of Scotland (NRS) show that there were 2,704 additional seasonal deaths in the winter of 2024/2025, and the numbers confirm that almost one in five of these were due to flu.
Additional winter deaths means the difference between the number of deaths in the four months of winter and the average of the two four-month periods either side. The figure for last winter is higher than the previous winter when 1,796 additional winter deaths were recorded, but NRS say it is not unusually high compared to figures from the last decade.
In total there were 22,272 deaths between December 2024 and March 2025, an increase of 1.3% in the number of deaths compared to the previous winter.
NRS Head of Vital Events Statistics Phillipa Haxton said: “The illnesses most associated with increased deaths in winter are flu, dementia, and coronary heart disease.
“Increased winter deaths are linked to age. In winter 2024 to 2025, there were 18 per cent more deaths among people aged 85 or older compared to the months before and after winter. In the under 65 age group there were 9 per cent more deaths in winter.”
The general trend has been upward in the last decade but going back to the 1950s and 60s the longer term trend shows fewer winter deaths.
Very few deaths are directly due to cold weather. There have been fewer than ten deaths attributed to “exposure to excessive natural cold” in each year since 2019.
In the last 70 years, only the first pandemic year of 2020 saw more deaths outside of winter than during it.
West Register House is a building of the National Records of Scotland, located on Charlotte Square in Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom. The building was constructed between 1811 and 1814 as St George’s Church and converted to its current purpose as a records office between 1964 and 1970.
Picture Alan Simpson 6/5/2025
