Suicide: key data sources

The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) compiles the official statistics on suicides (i.e. deaths caused by intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent) in Scotland.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles the suicide data for England and Wales.

The Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA) collects the suicide data for Northern Ireland.

The Central Statistics Office Ireland compiles the data for the Republic of Ireland.

When considering suicide data, it is conventional to combine deaths by intentional self harm with deaths of undetermined intent as it is believed that the overwhelming majority of ‘undetermined’ deaths are probable suicides. This is particularly necessary when comparing data from different countries as differing legal arrangements and social/religious attitudes may lead to different proportions of likely suicides being assigned to these two groups.

In England and Wales, for example, all possible suicides are subject to a public inquest in a coroner’s court.  Before returning a verdict of suicide, the coroner will require proof ‘beyond all reasonable doubt’.    Many possible suicides end up as ‘open’ verdicts and are subsequently included in the mortality statistics for England and Wales as ‘undetermined’ deaths.  

It is advisable to exclude those data classified as "pending investigation" (i.e ICD-9 E988.8 and ICD-10 Y33.9) as these codes are used in England and Wales in cases where a coroner adjourns an inquest awaiting prosecution of a third party, with a large proportion subsequently found to be homicides.