Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

Sounds.

Thank you for downloading more or less from the BBC.

This is the version of the programme first broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Here's Tim Harford.

Hello and welcome to More or Less, the programme which takes a look at the numbers around

us in the news and in life. This week do you know how many people have been

killed in the Iraq war? We'll be thinking through the numbers and we'll be

considering millionaire pensioners, the glories of Luxembourg, and most importantly the nautical

mile.

But first, we start the programme with some good news.

We at more or less thought that next week was the week of death, the week of each year

in which the largest number of British people tend to die. But it turns out that next week is not the week of death. Ben Carter is here to explain.

Tim, I've looked at both the Office for National Statistics and the Scottish National Records

Office Weekly Mortality Figures. The mortality figure and the Scottish National Records Office weekly mortality figures.

The mortality figures do indeed tend to be highest for the second full week of the year next week.

So hang on, next week is the week of death.

The weekly figures do say next week is the week of death. The weekly figures do say next week is the week of death.

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