In the Russian media and social networks, reports about British pensioners have been appearing for several years who cannot afford to pay utility services and therefore die from the cold. We checked how much this is true.
In early October 2021, the topic of British pensioners dying from the cold Raised Margarita Simonyan in the program “60 minutes” on the channel “Russia 1”: “People ask me:“ If we are so good, but they are so bad, why do they live so better than we? ” I always say to these people: “Who told you? Do you have an idea about Hollywood films about this. What criteria do you measure, what is called“ better to live ”and what is called“ living worse ”?" For example, I always say to them: “Do you know that in the UK in winter tens of thousands of pensioners freeze to death in their homes? This is not now (I am even scared to think about how much they will freeze this winter), this is usually! That is, every spring they publish data that another 20,000 pensioners could not afford to heat their house and freeze in their house. This Statistics, no one knows about this?
In 2020, Simonyan in a note for Komsomolskaya Pravda She said About 100 pensioners, who "in winter freely freeze to death in their homes." Even earlier this topic was affected "New Izvestia" and some other editions, and the "Russian newspaper" mentioned Dying from hypothermia of the British old people back in 2007.
Will pensioners freeze?
Contrary to the statement by Simonyan, at least the British media do not hide the problem, but constantly her Discuss, and in these publications there are estimates from 3,000 to 32,000 dead. At the same time, the expression “frozen to death” is not found in these publications, and other is used instead-Cold-RELEETED Deaths, which does not mean death from hypothermia, but any diseases that could develop in people who live in insufficient warm houses.
There is another term there - “Excessive Winter Deaths” (Excess Winter Deaths, EWD). But this is also not pensioners frozen to death, but rounded difference Between the number of months who died in the “winter” months (from December to March) and the average number of deaths for the remaining part of the year in the country. They consider all ages, not just the elderly.
Data for discussions are usually taken from annual reports of the National Statistical Service (ONS). The journalist The Guardian also refers to these reports Don Fosterand director of the Age UK charitable organization Caroline Abrams, and many other journalists, politicians and public activists.
For example, Comparative report ONS during the winter 2018–2019 and winter 2019–2020. What should you pay attention to? First of all, the fact that excess mortality in the winter is caused not at all freezing and no hypothermia. The compilers believe that in the winter, mortality increases significantly primarily from respiratory, cardiovascular diseases, as well as from Alzheimer's dementia and disease. And hypothermia in the list of the most common reasons is not called.
Moreover, in one of the previous reports (comparison of the winter 2016–2017 and 2017-2018) It is specifically explained: despite the fact that in winter, mortality is associated with low temperatures, the cold is not a cause of increased winter mortality.
A number of reasons for this problem in England and Wales are also given there. The compilers called among them the lack of a habit of dressing warmly (characteristic of residents of countries with a soft climate), as well as poor housing, which is characterized by low energy efficiency (in the UK, where frosts do not happen so often, many houses do not have good heat -insulation and even double glasses, and with the advent of strong cold colds every few years, sometimes their inhabitants, their inhabitants are not bad).
Long-term stay in the cold causes increased blood pressure, which is dangerous for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases, and, of course, creates a favorable background for the development of respiratory diseases: bronchitis, pneumonia, etc. Chapter Age UK Caroline Abrams also surethat the situation has arisen has several reasons: “Poor housing, high prices for utility bills and health problems in general.”
Thus, it is wrong to say that these people froze to death. Such statements are just as reasonable as if doctors wrote about a person who died of lung cancer that he died of smoking. The cold in Britain (and in any other country where winter is) is rather not a killer, but an accomplice who prepares a “crime scene” for influenza, pneumonia, heart ailments and other real “killers”.
Where did the number 20,000 come from?
According to the same ONS reports, the EWD indicator (we repeat, taking into account all ages, and not just pensioners) in the past 20 years Varyled From year to year from 17,000 to 48,000, and the average arithmetic for five years lasted at 25,000 - 30,000. Perhaps the head of Russia Today had in mind these numbers, although the frozen people have nothing to do with it.
In early 2020, similar allegations dismantled Our colleagues from the British Faulland Project Full Fact. They pay attention to the fact that, according to official statistics, in the UK (with the exception of Northern Ireland) in the winter of 2018-2019, more than 25,000 excess deaths were recorded. At least 18,500 of them took people from 75 years of age. After studying reports and statistics, Full Fact came to the conclusion that freezing in itself was not a cause of death - people were dying of respiratory and other diseases.
The same thousands are sometimes mentioned by the British media, politicians and public activists who want to draw attention to the problem of high energy prices, which is why some people (by the way, not only pensioners) are forced to save on heating (and, as a result, on their health). But again this is not freezing to death.
How many people really freeze?
National statistics on this score could not be found. At the same time, ONS annually Publishing Statistics about the dead British and Welsh with a breakdown by age, gender and cause of death. According to these data, in 2019, most elderly people died of cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases, as well as Alzheimer's disease.
As can be seen from the tables, hypothermia is not among the most common causes of death. Moreover, even such “monsters” as influenza and pneumonia (which are Cold-RELATED), for the whole of 2019, they did not score 20,000 among the British and Welsh at the age of 80.
Data on deaths directly due to hypothermia Available In Scotland, and there we are talking about dozens of people a year. In particular, in 2020 registered 40 such cases. These poor fellows were truly frozen. On the scale of the entire United Kingdom, their number can probably reach several hundred, but not tens of thousands.
Most of the untruth
- Office for National Statistics. Excess Winter Mortality in England and Wales: 2019 to 2020 (Provisional) and 2018 to 2019 (Final)
- Office for National Statistics. Deaths Registered in England and Wales
- Full fact. There Were 25.260 Excess Winter Deaths Across All Ages in Great Britain Last Year
If you find a spelling or grammatical error, please inform us of this, highlighting the text with an error and by pressing Ctrl+Enter.
