The number of suicide deaths in Northern Ireland has increased and is the highest since 2015, new statistics show.
The latest figures for 2021 revealed there were 237 suicide deaths, an increase of 8.2% from the previous year and one in three of those deaths were someone aged under 30.
Suicide deaths were highest for men between the ages of 25 and 29 and 45 and 49, while for women the highest number of suicide deaths were between the ages of 20 and 24.
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On Wednesday, NISRA published their latest figures which conclude the review of NI Suicide Statistics for the years 2015-2017, and thus provide a consistent time series for the period 2015-2021.
In 2021, 74.3% of suicide deaths were men and 25.7% were women. The suicide death rate (standardised for age) for both males and females has been on a general upward trajectory since 2019. The rate for males increased from 19.1 per 100,000 males in 2019 to 21.5 in 2021, while for females, the equivalent rate increased from 6.0 per 100,000 females in 2019 to 7.3 in 2021.
Northern Ireland had an age-standardised rate of 14.3 suicides per 100,000 population in 2021. This is slightly higher than the 14.0 suicides per 100,000 population for Scotland but notably above the rate for England and Wales at 10.5 suicides per 100,000.
The Belfast Trust had the highest suicide rate at 17.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2021, followed by Western Trust (16.0 deaths per 100,000). Northern Trust had the lowest suicide rate in 2021 at 10.4 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).
The official UK definition of suicide encompasses deaths due to external causes relating to intentional self-harm and of undetermined intent. It does not include deaths where the outcome was deemed accidental.
Responding to the figures, Northern Ireland's Mental Health Champion Professor Siobhan O'Neill tweeted: "We never forget that these are the real people, with loving families and friends who are devastated."
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