By J.D. Heyes

As reported by the UK’s Daily Mail Online, a growing number of cases of dementia and an ineffective flu vaccine are being blamed for the biggest rise in annual deaths in England and Wales in five decades, an investigation revealed.

In 2015, the website noted, there were 28,000 more deaths than the previous year, or an increase of 5.6 percent. The most recent inquiry into the rising death toll has found that 2015 saw the biggest single-year spike in respiratory diseases, including influenza, and diseases like dementia since 2003.

The figures come from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), which was assisted by Public Health England (PHE), and it is the first time an analysis of death rates has been undertaken.

Daily Mail Online reported further:
In 2015, there were 529,613 deaths registered in England and Wales, an increase of 28,189 compared with 2014.

Of the extra deaths, 86 per cent occurred in the over 75s and 38 per cent in the over 90s.

It was the highest number of deaths in a single year since 2003 and the highest year on year percentage increase since 1968.

Figures also suggest that life expectancy at birth will fall by 0.2 years to 79.3 years for men and by 0.3 years to 82.9 years for women if mortality rates remain the same as they were in 2015.

For men, this was the first fall since 1993.