Deaths from suicide rise in Northern Ireland

There were 237 deaths from suicide in Northern Ireland last year - 18 more than the number recorded in 2020.

It is the highest number of registered deaths from suicide since 2015 - 176 were men, 61 women.

The suicide rate for men and women has been on an upward trajectory since 2019, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

There were 14.3 deaths from suicide per 100,000 people in NI - slightly higher than the rate in other UK regions.

In 2021, a majority of the deaths occurred in the Belfast Health Trust area, followed by the Western Trust, with the Northern Trust registering the lowest suicide rate of 10.4 per 100,000.

Northern Ireland's mental health champion, Professor Siobhan O'Neill, said that "every single death is a death that can be prevented and we must do all that we can to prevent these deaths".

The suicide rate in Northern Ireland last year was slightly higher than in other parts of the UK

"We currently have long waiting lists for people who want to access mental health services," she told BBC News NI.

"That's a difficulty because we know that suicide can be related to mental health difficulties.

'Strengthen mental health services'

"We also know that we have high rates of deprivation and inequality across our population and we know that deprivation and poverty are associated with suicide," she added.

"We need to strengthen our mental health services by implementing in full the mental health strategy over the next 10 years," she said.

"Also we need to work to address the social determinants of poor mental health so that we reduce the number of people who experience suicidal crisis," she added.

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