Suicide numbers among children and young people in England have increased by 50% in the last decade, figures show.
The Office for National Statistics analysed data covering almost 12 million children and young people aged between 15 and 25 from 2011-12 to 2021-22. There were 4,315 suicides across the whole period.
A total of 440 young people killed themselves in 2021-22, up 47% from the 300 such deaths in 2011-22. The number of suicides per 100,000 children and young people was up 54% over the same period.
Suicide rates were higher around the summer exam period and slightly lower at the start of the academic year, the ONS found.
Gemma Byrne, the policy and influencing manager at the charity Mind, said the figures were devastating and showed that the country was “sliding backwards, not moving forwards, on young people’s mental health”.
She said: “The causes of suicide are complex and differ from person to person, but we know that over half a million people under 18 are on mental health waiting lists, with one in four of them waiting for more than two years for meaningful care. Too many young people can’t get help in the community when they need it.
“Until the government grasps the scale of the nation’s mental health crisis, more children and young people will be let down by the systems supposed to care for them. We must see investment in timely support for young people, through a national network of early support hubs and a commitment to tackling mental health waiting lists, so they can get help before it’s too late.”
The ONS found “small significant differences” between the suicide rates for males and females across the school year.
Suicide rates among females were highest in early May, at 0.53 for every 100,000 people, compared with 0.29 per 100,000 in early July.
The figures for males ranged from a peak of 1.26 in early July to a low of 0.85 in late November.
Last year suicide rates across all ages in England and Wales reached the highest level since 1999 and charities called on the government to invest in suicide prevention measures.
An ONS spokesperson said: “Despite recent increases in rates of suicide in children and young people, we cannot draw meaningful conclusions from the variability of rates of suicide across the academic year, due to low numbers of suicides across the study period and wide confidence intervals around the rates.”
The Department of Health and Social Care has been approached for comment.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
