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.
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
[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.