Strokes are the third most common cause of death in the UK (after heart disease and cancer). Every year about 150,000 people in the UK have a stroke.^[12][13] Overall, about 1 in 5 people die from stroke within the first 30 days.

No one can say what someone's personal risk of dying after a stroke will be. On average, about one-third of the people who have a stroke will die within a year.^[12]

Some types of stroke are more serious than others. Having a stroke because there is bleeding into your brain (a haemorrhagic stroke) is usually more serious than having a stroke because you have a blocked blood vessel (an ischaemic stroke). About 3 in 10 people who have bleeding in their brains die within 30 days, compared with about 1 in 10 people who have a stroke because of a blocked artery.^[7]

In the 1960s and 1970s the number of people having a stroke started to fall, mainly because people were following advice to stop smoking, to eat better, and to exercise regularly.^[14][38] But more recently the number of people having a stroke has stayed the same. This may have something to do with the fact that people are living longer, since the older you get the more likely you are to have a stroke.

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