FOI Reference: FOI/2022/4224
You asked
I would like to obtain available statistics on the suicide rates in the UK for ethnic minorities since 2016.
We said
Thank you for your request for suicides by ethnic minority.
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, this is driven using information collected from death certificates at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
Ethnicity is not recorded on the death certificate, as it is classified as a self-reported characteristic.
However, previously we have produced one analysis of deaths by leading causes by ethnicity for England and Wales, this was achieved by linking mortality data to Census 2011 data. Data on suicide by ethnicity is recorded in table 8 of Mortality from leading causes of death by ethnic group, England and Wales. Deaths due to suicide can also be found by using table 15 to filter on ICD10 Codes X40-X49 and X60-X84 for 10+, Y10-Y34 for 15.
We have not yet produced further analysis of suicides by ethnicity. We can however produce England and Wales suicides by ethnicity to include additional years up to 2021 for you by linking to Census data as a bespoke request. Special extracts and tabulations of mortality data for England and Wales are available to order (subject to legal frameworks, disclosure control, resources and agreements of costs, where appropriate). Such enquiries can be made to: Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.