Recorded suicides by age since 1999 (FOI)

​Request

A

Please confirm how many suicides there have been in Jersey since 1999 broken down by year.

​B

Please advise the ages of the suicides? 

Response

A

Information on suicide statistics from 2007 to 2021 is available on page 16 of the Jersey Mortality Statistics 2022 report on www.gov.je. Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied. Please see the following link:

Jersey Mortality Report 2022 (gov.je) 

Information in respect of suicides in 2022 is due to be published in October 2024, data relating to 2023 will be published in September 2025 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.  

Due to the small numbers involved, no annual age or gender breakdown will be provided. Release of 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. 

However, a breakdown of the aggregated data for the period between 1999 and 2021 has been provided instead. Please see Table 1 attached. 

Suicide statistics.pdf​

The Tenth Revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) has been used to classify cause of death in the publication. 

In Jersey, data on suicide concern all deaths that were assigned underlying cause of intentional self-harm (for those aged 10 years and above). Deaths caused by injury or poisoning of undetermined intent (for those aged 15 years and above) are also included, based on the assumption that the majority of these deaths would be suicide. 

Both categories refer to deaths with a broad range of causes including poisoning (for example by exposure to a particular drug) and injuries (for example a fall). Deaths caused by intentional self-harm are those where the Coroner had clear evidence that the deceased intended to end their own life; deaths of undetermined intent concern those where the evidence on intent was unclear. Further information on the individual cause of death codes can be found on the World Health Organisation website: 

International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (icd.who.int)​

Please note that the reported numbers of suicides may fluctuate due to various factors, including changes in coding practices, amendments to the data set, and updates in reporting standards. These factors can influence the accuracy and consistency of the data over time. 

B

Table 2 attached provides a detailed breakdown of the ages of individuals whose deaths have been coded as suicide or undetermined intent in Jersey over the period from 1999 to 2021.

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 2018.

(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 2018; and

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