Northern Ireland suicide rate lower than previously reported

A review of death statistics has revealed that Northern Ireland's suicide rate is lower than previously thought.

It had been believed Northern Ireland had the highest suicide rate in the UK, however, this is no longer the case.

The review involved a closer examination of deaths, which led to some being removed from the suicide category and placed in an accidental death category.

Some of these included drug deaths.

The review looked at how "undetermined" deaths were recorded from 2015 to 2018.

These are deaths caused by the person themselves, but the intent is unclear.

The review was carried out by statistics agency Nisra and the Coroner's Office.

The corrected rates show that Northern Ireland's suicide rate is lower than Scotland's, but remains higher than those of England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland.

Northern Ireland's mental health champion Prof Siobhan O'Neill said: "I am very conscious that these suicide stories refer to real people and real lives.

"The toll of suffering that they represent is huge. It is unacceptable and we must do all we can to prevent every single death."

'Additional scrutiny'

Out of the 467 cases reviewed, 84% moved into accidental cause-of-death categories which fall outside the suicide definition, thus resulting in a downward revision of the number of suicide deaths in Northern Ireland between 2015 and 2020.

The extent of the downward revision in the number of suicide deaths from previously published figures is almost 30% in each of the years 2015-2017, 23% in 2018 and 17% in 2020.

The review solely looked at the way the figures were recorded and reported, and does not change what has been recorded on a death certificate.

Nisra has released a set of tables giving a revised time series (2015-2020) of the number of suicide deaths in Northern Ireland.

Review's main findings

There were 219 suicides registered in Northern Ireland in 2020. This is an increase of 14 (7%) since 2019, but represents a fall of 17 (7%) on the 2018 figure.

Belfast Trust had the highest suicide rate at 18.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2020, followed by Southern Trust (14.2 deaths per 100,000). Northern Trust had the lowest suicide rate in 2020 at 9.4 deaths per 100,000.

Northern Ireland's most deprived areas had a suicide rate that was almost twice that of the least deprived areas in 2020 (19.7 deaths per 100,000 in the most deprived areas; 10.8 per 100,000 in the least deprived).

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