Prevalence of suicide and self harm amongst adopted children, young people and adults

FOI REF: FOI-2023-1070

You asked

Please could you inform me if you hold any data on the prevalence of suicide and self harm amongst adopted children, young people and adults?

We said

Thank you for your request.

Unfortunately, we do not hold mortality statistics by birth status, such as adoptions, as this information is not recorded on the death certificate. We also do not hold information on incidents of self-harm. Your request may be better placed with NHS Digital.

However, in case it is of interest, we hold the following analysis on suicides in England and Wales: Suicides in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk). This provides registered deaths in England and Wales from suicide analysed by sex, age, area of usual residence of the deceased, and suicide method.

Table 5 provides number of deaths, age-specific suicide rates per 100,000 population by sex and five-year age group registered in England and Wales from 1981 to 2021.

2022 data is provisionally scheduled to be published in September/October 2023.