The UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) has changed the way it calculates ‘excess deaths’ i.e. whether weekly recorded deaths are more (or less) than expected. The methodology had remained the same for at least half a century: to compare latest data with the average of the previous five years - a simple arithmetical task. Now a new system is used, weighting various factors and interpreting the results with statistical analyses that are far beyond the layperson’s grasp.
Excess deaths
Excess deaths
Excess deaths
The UK’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) has changed the way it calculates ‘excess deaths’ i.e. whether weekly recorded deaths are more (or less) than expected. The methodology had remained the same for at least half a century: to compare latest data with the average of the previous five years - a simple arithmetical task. Now a new system is used, weighting various factors and interpreting the results with statistical analyses that are far beyond the layperson’s grasp.