Suicide

(asked on 9th September 2020) - View Source

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many deaths (1) of men, (2) of women, and (3) in total, were recorded as suicide in each region of England in each of the past ten years.


Answered by
Lord True Portrait
Lord True
Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
This question was answered on 23rd September 2020

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have therefore asked the Authority to respond.

Dear Lord Willis,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking how many deaths (1) of men, (2) of women, and (3) in total, were recorded as suicide in England in each of the past ten years (HL8003); and in each region of England in each of the past ten years (HL8004).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual suicide death registration statistics for England as part of our annual statistical release for the UK[1][2]. The latest available figures were published by the ONS in September 2020 and covered calendar years up to 2019 providing break downs by sex, age, and place of residence, including region.

Table 1 provides the number of suicides registered between 2010 to 2019 for males, females and all persons in England.

Table 2 provides the number of suicides registered between 2010 to 2019 for males, females and all persons in each region of England.

In England and Wales, deaths caused by suicide are investigated by coroners. Due to the length of time it takes to hold a coroner’s inquest, around half of the deaths registered in a given year occurred in the same year, with the remaining deaths occurring in previous years.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

Table 1: Number of suicides by sex registered between 2010 and 2019 in England

Year

Males

Females

Persons

2010

3,166

1,036

4,202

2011

3,420

1,098

4,518

2012

3,488

1,025

4,513

2013

3,688

1,039

4,727

2014

3,701

1,181

4,882

2015

3,600

1,220

4,820

2016

3,464

1,111

4,575

2017

3,328

1,123

4,451

2018

3,800

1,221

5,021

2019

4,017

1,299

5,316

Source: ONS

Table 2: Number of suicides by sex and English region registered between 2010 to 2019[3][4][5]

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

Persons

North East

266

287

248

244

247

305

295

246

273

235

North West

709

682

634

661

674

727

716

704

675

616

Yorkshire & The Humber

660

577

462

469

544

451

502

482

464

380

East Midlands

456

400

341

352

399

426

385

376

365

323

West Midlands

534

514

500

446

477

571

477

453

433

450

East of England

626

614

468

526

494

520

456

440

483

445

London

616

661

568

580

735

552

516

577

585

574

South East

859

720

720

754

756

794

820

716

724

683

South West

590

566

510

543

494

536

560

519

516

496

Males

North East

218

226

198

179

185

242

229

198

218

172

North West

540

529

480

498

498

542

568

552

527

479

Yorkshire & The Humber

482

440

353

369

412

354

407

382

360

286

East Midlands

345

300

254

276

305

324

308

304

281

239

West Midlands

411

387

382

340

373

446

386

357

325

334

East of England

462

465

346

395

374

390

353

330

364

352

London

437

503

419

447

543

424

395

435

427

434

South East

657

526

524

556

563

604

627

538

526

501

South West

465

424

372

404

347

375

415

392

392

369

Females

North East

48

61

50

65

62

63

66

48

55

63

North West

169

153

154

163

176

185

148

152

148

137

Yorkshire & The Humber

178

137

109

100

132

97

95

100

104

94

East Midlands

111

100

87

76

94

102

77

72

84

84

West Midlands

123

127

118

106

104

125

91

96

108

116

East of England

164

149

122

131

120

130

103

110

119

93

London

179

158

149

133

192

128

121

142

158

140

South East

202

194

196

198

193

190

193

178

198

182

South West

125

142

138

139

147

161

145

127

124

127

Source: ONS

[1]https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/latest

[2]Due to operational difficulites, suicides registered in 2019 in Northern Ireland and Scotland were unavailable at the time of analysis, and so this year’s annual release is for England and Wales only. The ONS will update the UK figures at a later stage.

[3]Cause of death was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). This includes all deaths from intentional self-harm for persons aged 10 years and over, and deaths where the intent was undetermined for those aged 15 years and over. The ICD codes used to select the deaths are show in Box 1.

ICD-10 codes

Description

X60-X84

Intentional self-harm

Y10-Y34

Injury/poisoning of undetermined intent


[4]Figures are for persons usually resident in each area, based on postcode boundaries as of May 2020.

[5]Figures are for deaths registered, rather than deaths occurring in each calendar year. Due to the length of time it takes to complete a coroner’s inquest, it can take months or even years for a suicide to be registered. More details can be found in the ‘Suicide Registrations In The UK’ statistical bulletin.

Reticulating Splines