Domain review
Population Health
Measures whether the population is actually getting healthier or sicker, health outcomes, not service throughput.
Population Health is currently rated High stress. The domain score is driven primarily by Drug-poisoning deaths, Suicide rate and Common mental-health condition prevalence. Data confidence is medium across its component metrics.
Component indicators
Population Health · Metrics
2024
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_drug_poisoning), accessed 2026-06-14.
Evidence file
Drug-poisoning deaths
Latest reading
2024
Scoring breakdown
Source
Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- ons_drug_poisoning
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 14 June 2026
Known weakness
England and Wales; 'drug poisoning' is broader than drug-misuse deaths, and registration delays mean the most recent years are typically revised upward.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_drug_poisoning), accessed 2026-06-14.
2024
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_suicides), accessed 2026-06-14.
Evidence file
Suicide rate
Latest reading
2024
Scoring breakdown
Source
Suicides in England and Wales
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- ons_suicides
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 14 June 2026
Known weakness
England and Wales; ONS publishes both occurrence-year and registration-year series (mixed in the latest point), and a 2018 coroner standard-of-proof change may have raised registered counts.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_suicides), accessed 2026-06-14.
2024
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_avoidable_mortality), accessed 2026-08-15.
Evidence file
Avoidable mortality
Latest reading
2024
Scoring breakdown
Source
Avoidable mortality in England and Wales
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- Office for National Statistics
- Series ID
- ons_avoidable_mortality
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 15 August 2026
Known weakness
England; the definition was revised in 2014 (earlier years are not comparable) and COVID-19 was counted as an avoidable cause from 2020, inflating 2020-21.
Notes
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_avoidable_mortality), accessed 2026-08-15.
2023/4
Verified official value from NHS England / NatCen (nhse_apms), accessed 2026-06-16.
Evidence file
Common mental-health condition prevalence
Latest reading
2023/4
Scoring breakdown
Source
Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey
- Update frequency
- Periodic (~7-yearly)
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- NHS England / NatCen
- Series ID
- nhse_apms
- Frequency
- Periodic (~7-yearly)
- Accessed
- 16 June 2026
Known weakness
The 16–64 CIS-R≥12 common-mental-health-condition measure. The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey waves are irregular (~7-yearly: 1993, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2023/4), so the series cannot be interpolated and the latest change spans a decade.
Notes
Verified official value from NHS England / NatCen (nhse_apms), accessed 2026-06-16.
2022–2024
Verified official value from ONS (ons_hle), accessed 2026-06-16.
Evidence file
Healthy life expectancy at birth
Latest reading
2022–2024
Scoring breakdown
Neutral: the latest reading matches the one before it
Source
ONS: Health state life expectancies, UK
- Update frequency
- Annual
- Reliability
- high
Provenance
- Provider
- ONS
- Series ID
- ons_hle
- Frequency
- Annual
- Accessed
- 16 June 2026
Known weakness
Sex-specific only (mean used here); rolling 3-year periods overlap; latest is the lowest since the series began (2011–13).
Notes
Verified official value from ONS (ons_hle), accessed 2026-06-16.
Historical values
Metric trends
Historical values
Drug-poisoning deaths
Latest
93.9deaths per million population (age-standardised)Drug-poisoning deaths · deaths per million population (age-standardised) · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Suicide rate
Latest
11.4age-standardised deaths per 100,000Suicide rate · age-standardised deaths per 100,000 · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Avoidable mortality
Latest
228age-standardised rate per 100,000Avoidable mortality · age-standardised rate per 100,000 · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Common mental-health condition prevalence
Latest
22.6% of adults aged 16-64Common mental-health condition prevalence · % of adults aged 16-64 · reported values, not stress scores.
Historical values
Healthy life expectancy at birth
Latest
60.8yearsHealthy life expectancy at birth · years · reported values, not stress scores.
Data provenance
Sources for this domain
| Organisation | Dataset | Type | Frequency | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office for National Statistics | Deaths related to drug poisoning in England and Wales | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Suicides in England and Wales | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | Avoidable mortality in England and Wales | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
| NHS England / NatCen | Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey | Official | Periodic (~7-yearly) | Source ↗ |
| Office for National Statistics | ONS: Health state life expectancies, UK | Official | Annual | Source ↗ |
How the Population Health domain is scored
The domain score is the median of the 5 component metric stress scores. Using the median reduces sensitivity to a single anomalous metric.
Each metric stress score is calculated as:
metric_stress = clamp(0.6 × level_score + 0.3 × trend_score + 0.1 × volatility_score, 0, 100)The Population Health domain carries a weight of 12% in the national index. Full methodology: methodology page.
International context · vs OECD
Life expectancy at birth
At the OECD average, but well behind leaders (Japan 84.3, Switzerland 83.9).
OECD Health at a Glance 2023 ↗ · 2021 · context only, not part of the score
Sensitivity analysis
What would move this domain?
The Population Health domain score is most sensitive to its two highest-stress indicators. Meaningful improvement in either of the following metrics would be the most direct path to improving the domain score:
- 98
Drug-poisoning deaths
Age-standardised rate of deaths related to drug poisoning, a direct measure of the most acute end of population health and social distress.
- 97
Suicide rate
Age-standardised suicide rate, a core indicator of acute population distress.
Related analysis
Deep dives related to Population Health
5,565 drug poisoning deaths registered in England and Wales in 2024, of which 3,736 were drug misuse, a rate that has more than doubled since 2012, and 9,809 alcohol specific deaths across the UK comparing all four nations on one consistent measure.
How long a newborn can expect to live by area and nation, a gap of 8.6 years between places, and where West Lothian sits.