FOI reference: FOI-2025-2925
You asked
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request the following information:
Since 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2024 how many people died by suicide for each year in the UK?
Out of the amount of people who took their own lives, what is the number of life insurance claims that were paid for said person who took their own lives to family?
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
We are responsible for the production of mortality and births statistics for births and deaths registered in England and Wales. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. Figures for deaths due to suicide that were registered in Scotland and Northern Ireland can be found on the NRS and NISRA websites:
For England and Wales, we have published the annual number of deaths due to suicide covering deaths registered between 2006 and 2023 in our Suicides in England and Wales publication. We have also produced this bespoke tabulation Deaths caused by suicide, by sex and age group, in England and Wales, occurring in each month between 2019 and 2023.
Provisional figures for quarterly deaths due to suicide in England are available in our Deaths caused by suicide by quarter in England dataset. Please refer to our release calendar for further updates on when finalised figures for suicides in England and Wales in 2024 will be published.
We do not hold data on life insurance claims, so we are unable to provide this information.
For further information, please contact health.data@ons.gov.uk.