Alcohol-specific deaths

Correction - 1 October 2021
Correction - 31 August 2021

Last update: 17 August 2021
Next update: August 2022
Frequency: Annual

Deaths which are counted as being due to alcohol.

	Report (PDF 204 KB)		Data (Excel    CSV)
	Methodology (PDF 169 KB)		Infographic (PDF 239 KB)

Statistical Service in Scotland

Previous definition: alcohol-related deaths

Historical tables on the previous definition (alcohol-related deaths) are available here: 

Data (Excel    CSV)

The total numbers (for Scotland as a whole) which are produced using the two definitions are compared in the chart which follows.

The files below have been made available as Excel spreadsheets and can be viewed in Comma Separated Value (CSV) or Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF).

Alcohol deaths registered in Scotland:figures based on the old and new National Statistics definitions
(Excel    CSV    PDF)

The causes of death which are counted by the two definitions are compared in Table 1 of ‘The impact of using the new definition of alcohol-specific deaths’ , which was published by ONS on 27 October 2017.

Correction - 1 October 2021:
An error was noticed in the monthly deaths in both the probable suicide and alcohol specific death publications. Deaths for these measures were based on month of occurrence within the 2020 registration year, rather than month of registration. This has been corrected.

Correction - 31 August 2021:
A correction was made to the infographic and publication on 31 August 2021. Previous versions read “The alcohol-specific death rate in the most deprived areas is 4.1 times the rate in the least deprived areas in 2020.” This was incorrect and should read “The alcohol-specific death rate in the most deprived areas is 4.3 times the rate in the least deprived areas in 2020”. This typing error was only present in the infographic and summary page of the report and all related tables are unaffected.

Statistics for other parts of the United Kingdom (UK)

Further information for the rest of the UK can be found via the following website links:

• England & Wales : Office for National Statistics, Deaths by cause
• Northern Ireland : Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Deaths by cause

Note : Figures for England & Wales and/or Northern Ireland may not always be on exactly the same basis as National Records of Scotland (NRS) figures: there can be differences in the coverage of what at first sight appear to be the same statistics.

A list of common definitions and acronyms used in these pages is available on our Glossary page.

Contact Us

Please get in touch if you need any further information, or have any suggestions for improvement.

Statistics Customer Services telephone: (0131) 314 4299
E-mail: [email protected]

Lead Statistician: Julie Ramsay

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