Fast Facts about Suicide
Facts about Suicide
- On average,there is one death from suicide every 90 minutes
across the UK and Ireland.
- In 2006 there were just under 6,000 deaths by suicide across
the UK and Republic of Ireland. Samaritans’ website has suicide
figures which are updated annually.
- Every year there are about 24,000 cases of attempted suicide by
young people aged 10-19 years in England and Wales alone. This is
one attempt every 20 minutes.
- In the UK, for people aged 15-24, suicide is the second biggest
cause of death after road accidents.
- Northern Ireland has the highest suicide rate (21 per 100,000
population over 14 years of age).
- The trend in suicide rates is downward in all countries except
Wales and Northern Ireland where suicide rates are on the
increase.
- Suicide is three times more common amongst men (17 per 100,000
population over 14 years of age) than women (5 per 100,000
population over 14 years of age).
Source for national suicide statistics: England and Wales,
Office for National Statistics; Scotland, General Register Office
for Scotland, Northern Ireland, NI Statistics Agency; Ireland,
Central Statistics Office. Data includes deaths by injury
undetermined whether accidental or purposeful for England, Wales,
Northern Ireland and Scotland, excluding ICD category E988.8 for
England and Wales. Data for Republic of Ireland refer to recorded
suicides only (ICD E950-9).
Suicide trends over 10 years (1997-2006)
- 7% decrease in the UK
- 10% decrease in England
- 1% increase in Wales
- 7.5% decrease in the UK and Republic of Ireland
- 14.5% decrease in the Republic of Ireland
- 111% increase in Northern Ireland
- 12.5% decrease in Scotland
Detailed statistics
More detailed information about suicide rates can be found in
Samaritans' Information Resource Pack 2008.
Download the
Information Resource Pack 2008
Facts about Samaritans
For detailed information about Samaritans, including number of
volunteers and frequency of calls, see our Facts and Figures page.
Dialogue contacts against number of
Samaritans volunteers 1992 - 2007