Recorded suicides by age since 2020 (FOI)

​​Request

Please provide the number of recorded suicides each year over the past five years (2020-2024), for the following ages brackets:

• 50-59 years old
• 60-69 years old
• 70-79 years old
  
• 80-89 years old
• 90-99 years old

Response

Data in this response covers the period between 2020 and 2021.  Information in respect of suicides is published with a lag of two years (i.e. data relating to suicides in 2022 will be published in September 2024 in the Jersey Mortality Report 2023), according to the usual schedule of mortality reporting.  The schedule of upcoming Public Health Intelligence reports can be found here:

Public Health Intelligence publication release schedule (gov.je)

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.  As a result, data regarding suicides from 2022-2024 is not yet available.

Table 1 Number of deaths by suicide in Jersey (2020 to 2021)

Due to the small number of suicides recorded for the requested years and age groups and the very high sensitivity of the data requested, where fewer than five suicides have occurred, these numbers have been suppressed for data protection purposes.  The total number of suicides recorded across all requested age groups in 2020 and 2021 combined was also <5.  The suicide figures up to 2021 can be found on page 16 in the most recent publication of the Jersey Mortality report, please see the following link: 

Jersey Mortality Report 2022 (gov.je)​

Release of exact numbers for the information requested 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. It is therefore exempt under Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011.

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.​