Domain review
Population Health
Measures whether the population is actually getting healthier or sicker — health outcomes, not service throughput.
Population Health is currently rated Critical. 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
Drug-poisoning deaths
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.
Suicide rate
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.
Avoidable mortality
2024
Verified official value from Office for National Statistics (ons_avoidable_mortality), accessed 2026-06-14.
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
- 14 June 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 2026-06-14.
Common mental-health condition prevalence
2023/24
Verified official value from NHS England / NatCen (nhse_apms), accessed 2026-06-14.
Evidence file
Common mental-health condition prevalence
Latest reading
2023/24
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
- 14 June 2026
Known weakness
The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey runs only about every seven years (1993, 2000, 2007, 2014, 2023/24), so the series cannot be interpolated and the latest change spans a decade.
Notes
Verified official value from NHS England / NatCen (nhse_apms), accessed 2026-06-14.
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
20.4% of adults aged 16-64Common mental-health condition prevalence — % of adults aged 16-64 — 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 ↗ |
How the Population Health domain is scored
The domain score is the median of the 4 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.
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:
- 93
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.
- 91
Suicide rate
Age-standardised suicide rate, a core indicator of acute population distress.