Diphtheria cases and deaths, England and Wales, 1914 – 2013 – Graph

This page contains the accessible version of the "Diphtheria cases* and deaths, England and Wales, 1914 – 2013" graph. Click here to view the original graph or browse the text version of each section below.

* Notifications up to 1985, laboratory confirmed cases 1986-2013

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Graph Description

Line graph of diphtheria cases*, deaths and vaccine coverage at 2 years in England and Wales between 1914-2013. From 1914 until the mid 1940s, number of diphtheria cases fluctuated with an average of approximately 55,000 cases per year. Cases swiftly fell in the 1940s when routine vaccination was introduced and have remained low with an average of under four cases per year since 2000.

Deaths decreased steadily from 1914-2013 from approximately 6000 deaths per year in 1914 to an average of fewer than one death per year by 2014.

Data for vaccine coverage at 2 years is provided from the early 1970s onwards. Initially, vaccination rates were high with coverage just under 80% however coverage fell to around 30% in 1979. Since then, coverage has risen to over 95% in 2013.

Data from Graph

The following table contains the numeric data used to create the graph.

Year	Cases	Deaths	Vaccine coverage at 2 years
1914	59324	5863
1915	54780	5865
1916	53340	5366
1917	44611	4677
1918	46331	4803
1919	54585	4888
1920	69481	5648
1921	66506	4772
1922	52153	4075
1923	40009	2722
1924	41980	2401
1925	47720	2774
1926	51121	2994
1927	52194	2732
1928	61222	3191
1929	62840	3446
1930	74043	3497
1931	50290	2673
1932	43399	2339
1933	47435	2646
1934	68759	4085
1935	65084	3488
1936	58835	3081
1937	61341	2963
1938	65008	2861
1939	47343	2133
1940	46281	2480
1941	50797	2641
1942	41404	1827
1943	34662	1371
1944	23199	943
1945	18596	722
1946	11986	472
1947	5609	244
1948	3575	156
1949	1890	84
1950	962	49
1951	664	30
1952	376	23
1953	266	20
1954	173	8
1955	155	12
1956	53	3
1957	37	4
1958	80	8
1959	102	0
1960	49	5
1961	52	10
1962	16	2
1963	33	2
1964	20	0
1965	35	0
1966	20	5
1967	6	0
1968	15	1
1969	13	0
1970	22	3	78
1971	17	1	78
1972	4	0	78
1973	2	0	78
1974	3	0	77
1975	11	1	59
1976	2	0	38
1977	2	0	39
1978	0	0	31
1979	0	0	35
1980	5	0	41
1981	2	0	46
1982	4	1	53
1983	4	0	59
1984	4	0	65
1985	4	0	65
1986	12	0	67
1987	10	0	73
1988	5	0	75
1989	8	0	78
1990	4	0	84
1991	3	0	88
1992	4	0	92
1993	9	0	93
1994	8	2	93
1995	5	0	94
1996	8	0	94
1997	10	0	94
1998	5	0	94
1999	1	0	94
2000	7	1	94
2001	4	0	93
2002	9	0	93
2003	5	0	93
2004	1	0	93
2005	2	0	94
2006	3	1	93
2007	3	0	94
2008	6	1	94
2009	4	0	95
2010	2	0	96
2011	2	1	96
2012	1	0	95
2013	3	0	96
2014	1	0	96

Source: Public Health England (now UKHSA)

Diphtheria cases and deaths, England and Wales, 1914 – 2013 – Graph

Accessible Text

Diphtheria cases* and deaths, England and Wales, 1914 – 2013

Graph Description

Data from Graph