Suicide statistics 2008 to 2023 (FOI)

Request

How many people have been registered as dying by the reason of suicide in the last 15 years in Jersey, split out between the following:

• Up to 16 years old
• Between 17 and 25 years old
• Between 26 and 35 years old
• Between 36 and 45 years old
• Between 46 and 55 years old
• Between 56 and 65 years old
  
• Between 66 and 75 years old 
• Over 75 years old.

Response 

Data in this response covers the period between 2007 and 2020. Information in respect of suicides in 2021 is due to be published in September 2023, and data relating to 2022 will be published in September 2024, according to the usual schedule of mortality reporting. 

Inquests for deaths which may be suicide can take some time to be concluded, and as such, reporting in arrears for deaths by suicide is standard practice.

Please note that the age group breakdown has been revised to align with the Government of Jersey’s current reporting, and to maximise the usefulness of the data.

Number of deaths by suicide in Jersey (2007 to 2020)

*Numbers rounded to the nearest five.

Due to the small numbers involved and the very high sensitivity of the data, numbers have been rounded to the nearest five. The release of exact numbers could negatively impact living relatives or other connected individuals, and it is considered that their right to privacy outweighs the public interest supporting the release of the information requested. Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has therefore been applied.

Article applied 

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.

3)      In determining for the purposes of this Article whether the lawfulness principle in Article 8(1)(a) of the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2018 would be contravened by the disclosure of information, paragraph 5(1) of Schedule 2 to that Law (legitimate interests) is to be read as if sub-paragraph (b) (which disapplies the provision where the controller is a public authority) were omitted.