Asbestos Health Statistics

Updated 31/10/2018

Inhalation of asbestos fibres can cause cancers such as mesothelioma and lung cancer, and other serious lung diseases such as asbestosis and pleural thickening.

There were 2,595 mesothelioma deaths in 2016 and is estimated that there were, in addition, a similar number of deaths due to asbestos-related lung cancer.

Also, 500 Asbestosis deaths in 2016 due to past exposures to asbestos

• All asbestos-related diseases typically take many years to develop so current statistics reflect the legacy of past working conditions.
• Widespread use of asbestos containing products in the past, particularly in the post-WWII building industry, led to a large increase in asbestos-related disease in Great Britain over the last few decades.
• The cancer, mesothelioma, has such a strong relationship with asbestos that annual deaths give a particularly clear view of the effect of past exposures.
• Annual deaths increased steeply over the last 50 years, largely as a result of asbestos exposure prior to 1980, and are now expected to continue at current levels for the rest of the decade before declining.

Health and safety at work Summary statistics for Great Britain 2018

Asbestos related diseases (Updated October 2018)

Mesothelioma (Updated October 2018)

Mesothelioma deaths by geographical area (Updated November 2017)

Mesothelioma deaths by geographical area interactive story map (1981-2015)

Mesothelioma Deaths by last occupation of the deceased (Updated November 2017)