Epidemiology

WHO estimates that around one million people commit suicide every year, that is, one death every 40 seconds.

• it is the 15th most common cause of death worldwide with 804,000 deaths in 2012, accounting for 1.4% of deaths and an average population rate of 11.4 per 100 000
• suicide attempt is three to four times more common in females than in males, however men are four times more likely to complete an attempt.
  • men tend to use violent methods (firearms and hanging) while women use more passive methods (poisoning) (1)

In England:

• data published by the Office for National Statistics on 1 September showed that in 2019 (2):
  
  • the suicide rate among men and boys was 16.9 deaths per 100 000, the highest since 2000 and slightly above the 2018 rate of 16.2 per 100 000
    
    
  • suicide rate among women and girls was 5.3 deaths per 100 000 in 2019, up from 5.0 per 100 000 in 2018 and the highest since 2004
    
    
  • 5691 suicides (4303 in men and boys) were registered in England and Wales in 2019, giving an age standardised rate of 11 deaths per 100 000 people
    
    
  • a total of 5420 were registered in 2018 (10.5 per 100 000)
    
    
  • among men and boys the age group with the highest suicide rate was 45 to 49 years (25.5 deaths per 100 000), while among women and girls 50 to 54 year olds had the highest rate (7.4 per 100 000)
  • despite a low number of deaths overall among people aged under 25 years, the data showed that rates of suicide in this age group have generally increased in recent years, particularly in the case of 10 to 24 year old females, whose rate has increased by 94% since 2012, from 1.6 deaths per 100 000 (81 deaths) to 3.1 per 100 000 in 2019 (159)
    
    
• the majority of suicides were seen in adult males, accounting for over three quarters of all suicides in 2019

• 2013 figures show hanging (including strangulation and suffocation) as the most common method of suicide for both sexes. The second most common method was drug poisoning (3)
  
  
• the highest proportional mortality ratios (PMRs) were for health professionals (PMR=164) and agricultural workers (PMR=133). Among women, administrative and secretarial workers had the greatest number of suicides yet the highest PMRs were found for health (PMR=232), and sport and fitness (PMR=244) occupations (4)
  
  
• elderly suicide rates in both sexes declined over the 24-year period 1979 to 2002 in the whole of the U.K., England and Wales, and Scotland, but only in females in the age-band 65-74 years in Northern Ireland (5)
  • elderly suicide rates were lowest in Northern Ireland

Notes:

• proportional mortality ratio (PMR) is a ratio of how more or less likely a death in a given occupation is to be from suicide as opposed to other causes, than a death of someone of the same age and gender in England and Wales as a whole

Majority of suicides are solitary and private, but some may be caused by a pact between people to die together.

• they are less common and rare than earlier
• when compared to people who commit suicide alone, they are tend to be female, older, married and of a high social class (6)

Reference:

• (1) Bolton JM, Gunnell D, Turecki G.Suicide risk assessment and intervention in people with mental illness. BMJ. 2015;351:h4978
• (2) Lacobucci G. Suicide rates continue to rise in England and Wales.BMJ 2020;370:m3431
• (3) Department of Health. Statistical update on suicide. February 2015.
• (4) Meltzer H1, Griffiths C, Brock A, Rooney C, Jenkins R.Patterns of suicide by occupation in England and Wales: 2001-2005. Br J Psychiatry. 2008 Jul;193(1):73-6..
• (5) Shah A1, Coupe J.A comparative study of elderly suicides in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: trends over time and age-associated trends.Int Psychogeriatr. 2009 Jun;21(3):581-7.
• (6) Brown M, Barraclough B.Epidemiology of suicide pacts in England and Wales, 1988-92. BMJ. 1997;315(7103):286-7.