Mental health statistics: suicide

Suicide and self-harm are not mental health problems themselves, but they are linked with mental distress.

In 2016, 5,668 suicides were recorded in Great Britain. Of these, 75% were male and 25% were female.¹
Between 2003 and 2013, 18,220 people with mental health problems took their own life in the UK.²
Suicide is the most common cause of death for men aged 20-49 years in England and Wales.³
One person in fifteen had made a suicide attempt at some point in their life.⁴
The suicide rate in Scotland rose by 8% between 2015 and 2016, with 728 suicides registered in Scotland in 2016.⁵

References

¹Office for National Statistics (2016). Suicides in GB, 2016 Registrations - ONS. [online] Available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/suicidesintheunitedkingdom/2016registration [Accessed 7 September 2017].
²University of Manchester (2015). National Confidential Inquiry into Suicide and Homicide by People with Mental Illness: Annual Report 2015: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales July 2015. Manchester: University of Manchester
³Office for National Statistics (2015). Suicides in the United Kingdom, 2013 Registrations - ONS. [online] Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/subnational-health4/suicides-in-the-united... [Accessed 25 Aug.2015].
⁴McManus S, Bebbington P, Jenkins R, Brugha T. (eds.) (2016) Mental health and wellbeing in England: Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014. Leeds: NHS Digital. Available at http://digital.nhs.uk/catalogue/PUB21748. [Accessed 18 October 2017]
⁵National Records of Scotland (2017). Probable Suicides: Deaths which are the Result of Intentional Self-harm or Events of Undetermined Intent [online] Available at: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/suicides/main-points. [Accessed 6 September 2017]