The aim of the RTSSS is to act as a central national repository for deaths by suspected suicide in Wales and to generate the intelligence to inform suicide prevention activity across Wales. This report will help us understand which particular groups are at risk and will help to inform suicide prevention work.
1. From 1 April 2024 – 31 March 2025 there were 440 deaths by suspected suicide of Welsh residents who died in or outside of Wales, giving a rate of 16.8 per 100,000 people. The rates in 2023/24 and 2022/23 were 13.4 (352 deaths) and 13.7 (359 deaths) respectively.
2. Males accounted for 77% of deaths by suspected suicide. The age-specific rate was highest in males aged 35-44 years (41.8 per 100,000).
3. The rate of suspected suicides in 2024/25 was over twice as high in residents in the most deprived (19.9 per 100,000) and next most deprived areas (22.1), compared with residents in the least deprived areas (9.3).
4. The rate of deaths by suspected suicide in people who were reported to be unemployed was 150.8 per 100,000, which was over 12 times higher than in any other employment status group.
5. 61% of people were reported to have had a mental health condition, 55% had a history of previous self-harm, and 29% were known to mental health services.
6. 31% of the deaths by suspected suicide were in people who were known to the Police in the previous 6 months.
7. Analysis of the first 3 years of RTSSS data has shown some differences in patterns of mode of death, domestic abuse and other associated factors between males and females.
8. Collecting and sharing data via Real Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance allows action to prevent future deaths by suspected suicide to be taken in a timely way, by providing up to date intelligence to users on national and regional patterns.
9. This is the third year of data reporting. Some amendments relating to analysis have been made since the first two years (see Technical Information) and will develop as further data are collected. Due to small numbers in some categories and the lack of time series data, there are limitations to the RTSSS dataset. These are outlined throughout this report.
10. Deaths by suspected suicide are reported to Public Health Wales before a Coroner’s inquest. It is anticipated that the number of deaths by suspected suicide may be higher than the number of suicides as determined by a Coroner, as some deaths by suspected suicide may be found to have a different cause following a Coroner’s investigation and inquest.
Real Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance (RTSSS) was established in Wales on 1 April 2022. It collects information on deaths by suspected suicide that occur in Wales, as well as deaths of Welsh residents that occur outside of Wales.
The aim of the RTSSS is to act as a central national repository for deaths by suspected suicide in Wales and of Welsh residents and to generate the intelligence to inform suicide prevention activity across Wales.
Suspected suicides are reported to the RTSSS before a Coroner’s inquest. It is anticipated that these may be higher than the number of suicides as determined by a Coroner, as some may be found to have a different cause following a Coroner’s investigation and inquest.
Data collected on suspected suicides are different from suicide data as reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Suicides reported by the ONS include deaths which are registered following an inquest where a Coroner has determined:
(Suicide rates in the UK QMI. 2019, ONS)
Suicide statistics published by the ONS are the official statistics on suicide and should be used for strategic planning and comparison purposes. ONS suicide statistics on deaths registered in 2024 were published on 3 October 2025.
Coroner’s inquests can be a lengthy process lasting months or years in some cases. Once a conclusion is reached, the death is then registered and coded by the Office for National Statistics. As official suicide statistics are for deaths registered during a calendar year, they may not reflect any actual changes in the rate suspected suicides occurring that year. RTSSS data on deaths occurring that year is intended to be available earlier so that suicide prevention leads across multiple agencies can respond quickly to emerging patterns. RTSSS data is also used routinely to monitor suspected suicides on a monthly basis. The timeliness offered by RTSSS is a trade-off for accuracy of data and is an important consideration when considering the need for action. In future reports time-series trends will be available and this should allow us to understand patterns.
The data in this report includes deaths that occurred between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025. Data from the first RTSSS annual surveillance report and second RTSSS annual surveillance report on deaths that occurred between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023 and 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024 respectively have been revised due to additional information received after data were extracted for analysis. The revised data are shown in the data tables alongside 2024/25 data.
Further information on RTSSS can be found at Public Health Wales – Real Time Suspected Suicide Surveillance.
These statistics are published as Official Statistics in Development. These are statistics that have not yet been fully developed and are still being tested, but we are confident they are still of value. This is the third year of publication and the RTSSS is still in development. Further sources are being explored and there have been a number of amendments since the first two reports in response to feedback from users. Further developments will require a period of testing with users. In time it is anticipated that these statistics can be published to the standard of the Code of Practice for Statistics and can be published as Official Statistics.
The Technical Information section in Appendix 2 contains information on:
We welcome feedback on this report. We clarified user needs with a number of stakeholders prior to the publication of the first annual report and widely circulated a feedback survey following the publication of the first two reports. We have attended national and regional suicide prevention fora to present the data and share development updates and have held a feedback session with key stakeholders to determine the value of the data. We have taken into consideration feedback and comments in the planning of this report. A feedback survey will be available following publication of this report. Any feedback, comments, or queries can also be directed to PHW.RTSSS@wales.nhs.uk.
Iain Bell, Executive National Director for Research, Data and Digital, Public Health Wales
Dr. Louisa Nolan, Head of Data Science & Analytics, Public Health Wales
Jon Lane, Head of Suicide Prevention and Self-harm Policy team, Welsh Government
Holly Howe-Davies, Senior Policy and Evidence Advisor, Suicide Prevention and Self-harm Policy team, Welsh Government
Laura Jardine, Senior Policy Advisor for Suicide and Self-harm, Suicide Prevention and Self-harm Policy team, Welsh Government
Chloe Whiteley, Mental Health Senior Statistical Officer, Welsh Government
Chief Inspector Paul Biggs, Police Liaison Unit, Welsh Government
Claire Cotter, Head of Programme, Suicide and Self Harm Programme (SSHP), NHS Wales Performance & Improvement
Deborah Job, North Wales Regional Lead, SSHP
Laura Tranter, Mid & West Wales Regional Lead, SSHP
Ceri Fowler, South-East Wales Regional Lead, SSHP
Lara Homan, Quality & Performance Improvement Manager, Mental Health and Learning Disabilities, Performance and Assurance, NHS Wales Performance & Improvement
Philip Daniels, Executive Director of Public Health, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board
Prof. Ann John, National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research, Swansea University
From 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, there were 440 suspected suicides of Welsh residents of all ages that occurred in Wales or outside Wales, giving a rate of 16.8 per 100,000. There were an additional 20 suspected suicides of non-Welsh residents that occurred in Wales.
| Time period | Count of deaths | Rate per 100,000 (95% confidence intervals) |
| 2022/23 | 359 | 13.7 (12.3-15.2) |
| 2023/24 | 352 | 13.4 (12.1-14.9) |
| 2024/25 | 440 | 16.8 (15.3-18.5) |
The rate in 2024/25 was statistically significantly higher than in 2023/24 and 2022/23 (Table 1). This could be because of a real increase in the rate of suspected suicides in Wales or it could be because of increased reporting into RTSSS during 2024/25.
The analyses presented in this report include suspected suicides of Welsh residents only for 2024/25, with comparisons with 2022/23 and 2023/24 using revised figures which are shown in the data tables.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
From this data you cannot conclude that there was any significant variation in the number of suspected suicides month on month during 2024/25.
Figure 1 shows that the number of deaths ranged from 30 deaths in June 2024 to 43 deaths in December 2024. The mean (average) number of deaths was 37 per month and the standard deviation was 4. It is expected that around two thirds of the time that counts would be inside one standard deviation of the mean, and this was the case for 10 out of 12 months, so the variation seen is what would be expected.
In 2022/23, the range was 20 to 37 deaths and in 2023/24 the range was 21 to 41 (see data tables).
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data and MYE (ONS)
The rate in South-East Wales (14.4 per 100,000) was statistically significantly lower than the all-Wales rate (16.8). The rate of suspected suicides was not statistically significant from the all-Wales rate in Mid and West Wales (18.0) and North Wales (17.3).
| 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 | |
| North Wales |
11.4 (95% CI 8.8-14.5) |
14.9 (95% CI 11.9-18.4) |
17.3 (95% CI 14.1-21.0) |
| Mid and West Wales |
16.3 (95% CI 13.5-19.4) |
12.6 (95% CI 10.2-15.4) |
18.0 (95% CI 15.1-21.2) |
| South-East Wales |
11.7 (95% CI 9.9-13.7) |
12.5 (95% CI 10.7-14.6) |
14.4 (95% CI 12.4-16.6) |
Table 2 shows the regional rates from 2022/23 to 2024/25. In 2024/25 the rates in each of the three regions are higher than the previous two years, but the rates over the three years were not statistically significant from each other.
The 95% confidence intervals of the regional rate estimates in 2024/25 overlapped but since two estimates with overlapping confidence intervals can still be statistically significantly different, further testing using the pairwise comparison of regions was done. It showed that there was no statistically significant difference between regional rate estimates (Appendix 1).
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data and MYE (ONS)
The rate in 2024/25 was statistically significantly higher in Powys Teaching Health Board compared with the all-Wales rate, and statistically significantly lower in Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board.
Figure 3 shows that the rate in residents of Powys Teaching Health Board (25.3 per 100,000) was statistically significantly higher than the all-Wales rate. However, there are wide confidence intervals for the Powys rate because the rate was based on 29 deaths in a relatively small population. Small numbers are susceptible to random variation and so caution should be used when interpreting the rate.
The rates in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (17.6), Hywel Dda University Health Board (19.3) and Aneurin Bevan University Health Board (18.2) were higher than the all-Wales rate, but they were not statistically significantly higher. The rates in Swansea Bay University Health Board and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board had lower (but not statistically significantly lower) rates than the all-Wales rate. The lowest rate was in Cwm Taf University Health Board (12.2), which was statistically significantly lower than the all-Wales rate.
Rates in residents of Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, Hywel Dda University Health Board and Powys Teaching Health Board increased since 2022/23 and 2023/24 but none of these increases were statistically significant. In Swansea Bay University Health Board the rate was higher, but not statistically significantly higher, than in 2023/24, but not than in 2022/23. In Cwm Taf University Health Board the rate in 2024/25 decreased from 2023/24 and was higher than in 2022/23 but these differences were not statistically significant.
In order to establish whether there was a statistically significant difference between health boards, a pairwise comparison of health boards was done (Appendix 1). It showed that:
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data, MYE (ONS) and WIMD 2019 (WG)
* 8 cases had incomplete postcode data and therefore are not included
Figure 4 shows that the rate of suspected suicides was statistically significantly higher than the all-Wales rate in residents who lived in the next most deprived areas (22.1 per 100,000) and statistically significantly lower in residents who lived in the least deprived areas (9.3).
The rate was higher than the all-Wales rate in residents in the most deprived area (19.9) and lower in residents in the middle deprived (15.9) and least next deprived areas (15.6). None of these differences were statistically significant.
In the least deprived area the rates were similar in 2022/23 (10.3) and 2023/24 (9.5). In the most deprived area the rates were lower in 2022/23 (15.7) and 2023/24 (17.3) than in 2024/25 but the differences were not statistically significant.
There was a statistically significant difference between the least deprived fifth and all other deprivation fifths.
The rate of suspected suicides in 2024/25 was over twice as high in residents in the most deprived (19.9), and next most deprived areas (22.1), compared with residents in the least deprived areas (9.3).
Pairwise comparison showed that there was also a statistically significant difference between the rate in the next least deprived and the next most deprived fifths, and the middle deprived and the next most deprived fifths (Appendix 1).
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data and MYE (ONS)
Figure 5 shows that the rate in males (26.7 per 100,000) was statistically significantly higher compared with the all-Wales rate (16.8) and with the rate in females (7.4). The rate of death in females was statistically significantly lower than all-Wales rate.
The rates in males in 2024/25 were higher than the rates in 2022/23 and 2023/24 with rates of 21.9 per 100,000 and 20.8 respectively, with the increase from 2023/24 being statistically significant.
The rates in females in 2024/25 were slightly higher than the rates in 2022/23 and 2023/24 with rates of 6.0 and 6.5 respectively. These differences were not statistically significant.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data and MYE (ONS)
* Age group <25 has been used instead of 15-24 years to ensure all deaths by suspected suicide are reported
Figure 6 shows that the highest rate of suspected suicides occurred in males aged 35-44 years (41.8 per 100,000), followed by males aged 45-54 years (38.4).
In 2023/24, the highest rate also occurred in males aged 35-44 years (34.6), followed by males aged 45-54 years (25.8). The rates in these age/sex groups increased from 2022/23 and 2023/24 to 2024/25 but these differences were not statistically significant.
In 2022/23, the highest rate occurred in males aged 25-34 years (32.0); these rates decreased in 2023/24 (23.1) and 2024/25 (27.8) but these differences were not statistically significant.
The highest rate in females was in the 25-34 years age group (11.7), followed by the 35-44 years age group (8.8). The rate in females aged 25-34 years was higher than the rate in 2022/23 and 2023/24 (both 10.2) but it was not statistically significantly higher.
In all age groups, apart from the under 25 years age group, the rates were statistically significantly higher in males compared with females. Further pairwise comparison was not done for age-sex due to small numbers (less than 10).
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data and Economic activity status data (ONS)
* 105 cases had an unknown employment status therefore are not included
The highest rate of suspected suicides was in people where employment status was recorded as unemployed (150.8 per 100,000). This was statistically significantly higher than any other employment status group and over 12 times higher than the next highest group which was in people who were students/apprentices (11.7).
The rate in people who were unemployed increased since 2022/23 and 2023/24, when it was 114.1 per 100,000 and 126.7 respectively but this increase was not statistically significant.
NB. It should be noted that in 105 people (24%) the employment status was unknown. This could affect the findings (by increasing or decreasing the rate) if those who had unknown employment status were more likely or less likely to be unemployed.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
* Multiple associated factors listed, therefore, some may be counted in more than one category
** Counts under 5 have been removed
*** Cyber sexual abuse includes both victims and perpetrators
The most common associated factor was mental health condition, which was reported in 268 out of 440 people (61%) who died by suspected suicide. A history of previous self-harm was reported in 240 out of 440 people (55%). Family and/or relationship issues were reported in 120 out of 440 people (27%) and long-term illness/chronic condition were reported in 116 out of 440 people (26%).
Percentages for these associated factors in 2023/24 were: mental health condition 63%, history of previous self-harm 53%, family and/or relationship issues 27% and long-term illness/chronic condition 26%. In 2022/23 percentages were: mental health condition 49%, history of previous self-harm 49%, family and/or relationship issues 20% and long-term illness/chronic condition 16%.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
Of the 440 people who died by suspected suicide, 128 (29%) were known to mental health services in the 6 months prior to death. 202 (46%) were not known to mental health services. For 110 people (25%) it was unknown whether they were known to mental health services (Figure 9), so it is possible that the percentage of people who were known to mental health services was underestimated or overestimated.
Percentages for whether people were known to mental health services 6 months prior to death were similar in 2022/23 (29%) and 2023/24 (30%).
Not all people who were known to mental health services had a known mental health condition. Of the 268 people who were reported to have had a mental health condition, 121 (45%) were known to mental health services in the 6 months prior to death, 86 (32%) were not known to mental health services and for 61 (23%) it was unknown (not shown on chart).
Percentages for whether people who had a mental health condition and were known to mental health services 6 months prior to death were similar in 2022/23 (45%) and 2023/24 (40%).
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
*Some may be counted in more than one category
Out of 440 suspected suicides, 137 people (31%) were known to police in the 6 months prior to their death. The most common reason for being known to the police was from being suspected/convicted of a crime (81 out of 440, 18%).
Percentages for whether people were known to police in the 6 months prior to death were 37% in 2022/23 and 35% in 2023/24.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
* Counts under 5 are included in the ‘Other or unknown’ category
Hanging, strangulation or suffocation accounted for 251 out of 440 (57%) suspected suicides. The second most common mode of death was poisoning which accounted for 98 out of 440 (22%) suspected suicides.
Percentages for mode of death by hanging, strangulation or suffocation were 64% in 2022/23 and 57% in 2023/24. Percentages for mode of death by poisoning were 18% in 2022/23 and 20% in 2023/24.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
* Counts under 5 included in the ‘Other’ category
Incidents that led to death by suspected suicide that occurred in private residences accounted for the majority (259) of the 440 incidents (59%). Another 37 incidents (8%) occurred in privately owned locations - sheds and garages (27) and farms/building/land (10). Woods or forests accounted for 27 out of 440 incidents (6%).
Percentages for deaths that occurred in private residences were 59% in in 2022/23 and 2023/24. Percentages for the less common locations have fluctuated year on year, which would be expected when there are small numbers.
Produced by Public Health Wales, using RTSSS data
*7 cases had incomplete address data and therefore are not included.
The highest local authority 3-year rate was in Blaenau Gwent local authority (21.3 per 100,000), which was statistically significantly higher than the all-Wales 3-year rate (14.5).
Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Powys, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Neath Port Talbot, Torfaen and Monmouthshire all had 3-year rates which were higher than the all-Wales 3-year rate, but none were statistically significantly higher.
The 3-year rates were statistically significantly lower than the all-Wales 3-year rate in Flintshire (10.5).
| Males | % | Females | % | |
| Most common | Mental health condition | 56 | Previous self-harm | 65 |
| Second most common | Previous self-harm | 49 | Mental health condition | 64 |
| Third most common | Family and/or relationship issues | 26 | Long term illness / chronic pain / physical disability / other medical | 28 |
(Note: more than one associated factor may be associated with each suspected suicide)
This data should be interpreted with caution because the robustness of the data is not known due to the subjectivity of reporting and interpretation of some of the associated factors.
| Domestic abuse victim | Perpetrator of domestic abuse | |
| Males | 5% | 22% |
| Females | 23% | 10% |
* Victim of domestic abuse includes witness/bystander.
**This data should be interpreted with caution because the robustness of the data is not known due to the subjectivity of reporting and interpretation of some of the associated factors.
Table 4 shows the percentage by reason broken down by sex of suspected suicides that were identified as an associated factor under a domestic abuse related reason. This data should be interpreted with caution because the robustness of the data is not known due to the subjectivity of reporting and interpretation of some of the associated factors.
Males were more likely to be known to police for being suspected of domestic abuse, whereas females were more likely to be known to police for being a victim of domestic abuse.
| Males | % | Females | % | |
| Most common | Hanging, suffocation and strangulation | 62 | Hanging, suffocation and strangulation | 50 |
| Second most common | Poisoning | 17 | Poisoning | 32 |
| Third most common | *Other or unknown | 6 | Drowning | 8 |
*see glossary for 'Other' definition
There were 440 suspected suicides of Welsh residents who died in or outside of Wales, between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, giving a rate of 16.8 per 100,000 people. Males accounted for 77% of suspected suicides. The age-specific rate was highest in males aged 35-44 years (41.8). Mid & West Wales had the highest rate of suspected suicides by region (18.0), but it was not statistically significantly different to the all-Wales rate. Powys Teaching Health Board had the highest rate of suspected suicides by health board area of residence (25.3) which was statistically significantly higher than the all-Wales rate, but the 3-year rate at local authority level showed that the rate in Powys local authority (18.5) (which has the same footprint as the health board) was not statistically significantly different to the 3-year all-Wales rate (14.5). The highest rate of suspected suicides by local authority was in Blaenau Gwent (21.3); this was statistically significantly higher than the 3-year all-Wales rate.
The rate of suspected suicides in 2024/25 was over twice as high in residents in the most deprived (19.9) and next most deprived areas (22.1), compared with residents in the least deprived areas (9.3); these differences were statistically significant.
The rate of suspected suicides in people who were reported to be unemployed was 150.8 per 100,000, which was over 12 times higher than in any other employment status group.
61% of people were reported to have had a mental health condition and 29% were known to mental health services in the 6 months prior to death. A history of previous self-harm was reported in 55% of people. 31% of the suspected suicides were in people known to the Police in the previous 6 months.
Analysis of the first 3 years of RTSSS data has shown that the most common associated factors in males was mental health condition (56%), previous self-harm (49%) and family and/or relationship issues (26%). For females the most common associated factors were previous self-harm (65%), mental health condition (64%) and long term illness/chronic pain/physical disability/other medical issues (28%). Data on domestic abuse showed that males were more likely to be perpetrators compared with females (22% and 10% respectively) and females were more likely than males to be victims (23% and 5% respectively).
This information can be used to inform suicide prevention work in Wales in order to reduce the number of suicides in the Welsh population.
These factors are obtained from ‘historical risk factors’ as reported by Police. These include:
The information gathered from the Police reporting form in the above categories, along with further information available in the free text section is used to populate the following RTSSS ‘associated factor’ categories and may be used to populate other RTSSS categories if relevant.
RTSSS ‘associated factor’ categories include:
Covid related: Current Covid-19 / History of Covid-19 infection / Long Covid
Personal circumstances: Financial issues / Work issues / Housing/shelter issues / Social isolation / Bereaved / Bullying (inc. cyber) / Racial abuse/discrimination / Sexual orientation concern / Educational/exam stress / Failure to access support / Peer pressure (inc. cyber) / Problem Gambling / Veteran status / Adverse Childhood Experiences
Domestic circumstances: Care leaver / Carer responsibilities/issues / Domestic abuse - victim / Domestic abuse - perpetrator / Domestic abuse - bystander / Sexual abuse - perpetrator / Sexual abuse - victim / Sexual abuse cyber
Impacted by suicide : Affected by or exposed to suicide / Bereaved by suicide - family / Bereaved by suicide – friend/other
Substance use: Drug use/misuse / Alcohol use/misuse / Drug and Alcohol use/misuse / Drug/alcohol misuse unspecified
Emotional issues: Relationship issues / Family issues / Neighbour issues / Severe emotional/stressful life event / Experience of trauma
Medical and health: Mental health condition (Depression; Anxiety; Dementia; Schizophrenia/ other delusional disorder; PTSD; bipolar disorder; personality disorder; other; unspecified) / Long term illness / Chronic pain / Learning disability / Physical disabilities / Prescribed medication / Adherence with prescribed medication / Post/peri-natal concerns / Perimenopause/menopause / Neurodivergence (e.g. Autism, ADHD) / Other medical issues / Previous self-harm
NB: some of the above categories may be combined for reporting purposes
Confidence intervals are indications of the natural variation that would be expected around a rate and they should be considered when assessing or interpreting a rate. The size of the confidence interval is dependent on the number of events occurring and the size of the population from which the events came. In general, rates based on small numbers of events and small populations are likely to have wider confidence intervals. Conversely, rates based on large populations are likely to have narrower confidence intervals. A 95% confidence interval means that we are 95% confident that the true value of the estimate lies within the range.
The count is the number of suspected suicides that occurred over a particular period of time.
A crude rate is the number of suspected suicides occurring in a population over a specific time period, expressed as the number of deaths per 100,000 of the population. These rates were used as they are most suitable to inform action, which is one of the aims of the RTSSS.
The average number of deaths.
This is a broad term covering conditions that affect emotions, thinking and behaviour, and which substantially interfere with our life. Mental health conditions can significantly impact daily living, including our ability to work, care for ourselves and our family, and our ability to relate and interact with others. This is a term used to cover several conditions (e.g. depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia) with different symptoms and impacts for varying lengths of time, for each person. Mental health conditions can range from mild through to severe and enduring illness. People with mental health conditions are more likely to experience lower levels of physical and mental wellbeing, but this is not always or necessarily the case. Some mental health conditions like eating disorders and schizophrenia are associated with a higher risk of mortality (Understanding: a suicide prevention and self-harm strategy).
The sources of information for ‘mental health condition’ may have differed slightly in each Police force. All Police force reporters based the information reported to RTSSS on evidence that the person had a diagnosed mental health condition. This information may have been obtained from health records, police records or from a family statement.
Mode of death categories reflect categories used in Near to real-time suspected suicide surveillance (nRTSSS) for England, which are based on ONS categories. They are presented as follows:
The rates in this report are crude rates (see above).
The three regions of North Wales, Mid and West Wales and South-East Wales are defined below and are consistent with the regional suicide prevention fora in Wales.
North Wales – Health boards: Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Local authorities: Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Wrexham.
Mid and West Wales – Health boards: Hywel Dda University Health Board, Swansea Bay University Health Board, Powys Teaching Health Board. Local authorities: Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Pembrokeshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Powys.
South-East Wales – Health Boards: Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, Cardiff & Vale University Health Board. Local authorities: Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen, Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan.
Self-harm refers to an intentional act of self-poisoning or self-injury, irrespective of the motivation or apparent purpose of the act. Self-harm includes suicide attempts as well as acts involving little or no suicidal intent (Understanding: a suicide prevention and self-harm strategy).
The sources of information for ‘history of previous self-harm' may have differed slightly in each Police force. All Police force reporters based the information reported to RTSSS on evidence that the person had a history of self-harm. This information may have been obtained from health records, police records or from a family statement.
A measure of the amount of variation of a set of values in relation to the mean.
Statistical significance when comparing local area estimates to the all-Wales value was determined using 95% confidence intervals. The local area estimate is statistically significantly different if its confidence interval lies outside the Wales value. If the confidence interval overlaps with the Wales value then the difference is not statistically significant.
When comparing local area estimates with another local area estimate, age groups by sex, and deprivation fifths, non-overlapping confidence intervals between values indicate that the difference is unlikely to have arisen from random fluctuation (i.e. statistically significant). However, when the confidence intervals overlap, we cannot determine if there is a statistically significant difference or not by comparing confidence intervals alone, so a more exact test is required. The pairwise comparison looked at the difference between the rates and the 95% confidence intervals of the difference. When the confidence interval of the rate difference is above zero, the two rates are considered significantly different with 95% confidence.
Substance misuse is formally defined as the continued use of any psychoactive substance that substantially affects a person’s physical and mental health, social situation and responsibilities. The most severe forms of substance misuse are normally treated by specialist drug and alcohol rehabilitation services. Substance misuse covers misuse of a range of psychoactive substances including alcohol, illicit drugs and licit drugs including prescribed medications taken in a way not recommended by a GP or the manufacturer (Understanding: a suicide prevention and self-harm strategy).
When a person is suspected to have taken their own life intentionally (Understanding: a suicide prevention and self-harm strategy).
A death by suspected suicide as reported in most cases here has been determined by the Police. The College of Policing have outlined the classification of suspected suicide and state that:
“..There is often a requirement for an initial judgment to be made on whether a case is potentially suicide. … Officers should use their professional judgment – based on all the known facts – and supported by the national decision model (NDM), to record whether a fatality is a suspected suicide. Witness accounts, CCTV material, the presence of a suicide note and other available evidence will help in this determination. The ‘Ovenstone criteria’ (Ovenstone, 1973) may be used as a tool to support decision making on whether a death was more likely to have been suicide than not. Any judgement made in the first instance must be reviewed as further information becomes available.” (Suicide and bereavement response | College of Policing)
ISBN: 978-1-83766-744-4
The pairwise comparison looked at the difference between the rates and the 95% confidence intervals of the difference. When the confidence interval of the rate difference is above zero, the two rates are considered significantly different with 95% confidence.
Links below to pairwise tables:
Pairwise tables by All breakdowns download
Pairwise tables by Region download
Pairwise tables by Deprivation download
Pairwise tables by Sex download
Pairwise tables by Health board download
Pairwise tables by Local authority download
The legal basis for the processing of data is Paragraph 3(b) of the Public Health Wales NHS Trust (Establishment) Order 2009 “to develop and maintain arrangements for making information about matters related to the protection and improvement of health in Wales available to the public in Wales; to undertake and commission research into such matters and to contribute to the provision and development of training in such matters” and Paragraph 3(c) of the Public Health Wales NHS Trust (Establishment) Order 2009 which states as one of its functions: ‘to undertake the systematic collection, analysis and dissemination of information about the health of the people of Wales in particular including cancer incidence, mortality and survival; and prevalence of congenital anomalies.’
RTSSS has Data Disclosure Agreements in place with the four Welsh Police forces and British Transport Police to receive information via the British Transport Police (BTP)/National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) data collection template with the addition of fields for name and date of birth. Although the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations do not apply to the data collected for RTSSS, the exchange of personal data is conducted within the legal framework of the Data Protection Act 2018 and in compliance with the common law duty of confidence. We have conditional support from the Confidentiality Advisory Group to process confidential patient information without consent (Ref: 22/CAG/0163).
Notification of deaths by suspected suicide: Data in this report were obtained from the RTSSS database. Information is provided to RTSSS mainly by the four Welsh police forces, using a template developed by the British Transport Police (BTP) for the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) Suicide Prevention Portfolio. Suspected suicides have been determined to be suspected suicides by the Police (see ‘suspected suicide’ in glossary).
In addition to data in the BTP/NPCC template, we obtain name and date of birth from the four Welsh Police forces so that we are able to link each record with other data sources to cross check information and add additional information. BTP also separately notify suspected suicides which are transport related. Other sources for initial notifications include ad-hoc reports from services outside of Wales and the NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee.
Cross checking and additional information: A number of sources of data are used to cross check the information received in the initial notification, and to obtain further information where there may be gaps. These include: Welsh Clinical Portal, Welsh Demographic Service, Child Death Review Programme, Network Rail and Nationally Reported Incidents held by NHS Performance and Improvement.
Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2021 (WIMD) was used as the estimate of deprivation. It is Welsh Government’s official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in Wales. It is made up of eight separate domains/types of deprivation: Income, Employment, Health, Education, Access to Services, Housing, Community Safety and Physical Environment.
The ONS mid-year estimates (MYE) were used as the denominator when calculating rates. The ONS is the official source of population sizes, produced annually, covering populations of local authorities, counties, regions and countries of the UK by age and sex. Denominator for 2024/25 rates were based on lower super output areas MYE, 2022. For local authorities, the rates were based on local authority MYE 2022, 2023, 2024.
ONS Census 2011 data was used for estimating employment rates.
Location data were derived from postcodes, What Three Words and grid reference data provided by the data suppliers, on the British National Grid. If these were not available, name of health board or region of residence was supplied, if known.
Data quality has been considered using the Data Management Association UK dimensions, i.e. completeness, accuracy, timeliness, uniqueness, consistency and validity.
It should be noted that ethnic group and gender identity are important indicators, but the data quality of these data items is not clear, so we are not able to report on them. See section on Limitations for a further explanation.
The table outlines the indicators presented in this report and the corresponding data items in the BTP/NPCC return and other sources.
|
Indicator in RTSSS report |
Data item in deaths reported by Police (BTP/NPCC data collection template) |
Data item in deaths reported by non-Police source e.g. Joint Commissioning Committee |
Completeness (2024/25 data) |
|
Month of death |
Date of death |
Date of death or month of death was available |
100% complete, <5 cases with minor date discrepancy (i.e. day of death) between different sources. |
|
Region & health board of residence |
Postcode of residence |
Region & health board of residence was available |
100% complete in deaths reported on BTP/NPCC template. For deaths notified by other sources postcode was not available but region and health board of residence was available for all deaths. |
|
Area deprivation (based on Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation) |
No data field – obtained from postcode of residence |
Not available unless postcode provided |
98% complete. |
|
Age range |
Age |
Age or age range was available |
100% complete. |
|
Sex (assigned at birth) |
Gender (includes information on sex and gender) |
Data on sex was available |
100% complete. Only male and female data items used from the NPCC/BTP gender category and referred to as sex. For data items other than male/female, sex assigned at birth obtained from Welsh Demographic Service. |
|
Employment status (Unemployed, Employed/self employed, Retired, Student/apprentice, Other) |
Employment status/occupation (includes the following options: former police officer, serving police officer, former police staff, serving police staff, serving HM forces, NHS staff, social care worker, other public sector, other private sector, self-employed, unemployed, student, retired, other, unknown). |
Employment status was not available |
76% complete. If occupation rather than employment type was listed in BTP/NPCC return, employment status was determined from this. Free text field was also interrogated. |
|
Associated factors |
Historical risk factor(s) |
Information on associated factors was available for some deaths |
Only positive findings were collected and reported. Unknown level of completeness therefore may be underestimated. Free text field was also interrogated to populate data fields in RTSSS database. |
|
Known to mental health services in previous 6 months |
Known to mental health services 6 months prior to death |
Use of mental health services was available for some deaths |
75% complete overall. Free text field was also interrogated. Mainly police reported although some information from health systems (see Limitations section). |
|
Known to Police in previous 6 months |
Known to Police in previous 6 months |
Known to Police not available |
98% complete. Free text field was also interrogated. |
|
Mode of death |
Suicide method |
Mode of death usually available |
98% complete. |
|
Location type |
Suicide means location type |
Location type usually available |
100% complete |
Data were cross checked with other sources where possible. Queries relating to the data on the BTP/NPCC return were checked directly with the Police Forces. A small number of cases were reported by sources other than the Police and there was less information available on these. Also, we did not obtain personally identifiable information on these cases so cross-checking or adding further information was not possible.
An evaluation of RTSSS data is planned which will compare suspected suicides against ONS reported suicides. This will give an indication of the accuracy of the system.
Data on the BTP/NPCC return were received by RTSSS within 10 working days of the following month from the month of death. One Police force submitted a weekly return. The addition of further information could take up to several weeks. A small number of deaths were not reported in the initial BTP/NPCC return, but were added retrospectively, with revised figures from the previous year being published. Deaths reported via other sources could take one to two months to be received by RTSSS.
Data on occurrences of suspected suicides is more timely than ONS official suicide statistics, so can provide a more timely indication of emerging patterns and trends.
Each record was inputted by a member of the RTSSS core team and quality checked by another team member. If data values conflicted with other values the data source was checked and queried if necessary. A monthly data review meeting was held by the core RTSSS team to review any records where there were queries about the data identified from either the data entry or data quality checking stages.
Duplicated entries would be identified during the data entry or quality checking stages.
Data were cross checked with other sources where possible. RTSSS has a minimum dataset with definitions and rules relating to the data items collected.
The rates referred to in this report are crude rates as they are most suitable to inform action, which is one of the aims of the RTSSS. A crude rate is the number of suspected suicides occurring in a population over a specific time period, expressed as the number of deaths per 100,000 of the population. For these analyses, the rates used a denominator based on lower super output areas 2022 ONS mid-year estimates. This is because later years were not available. For local authorities, the population used to derive the rates were based on 2022, 2023, 2024 ONS mid-year estimates as these were available for LA geographies.
Region, health board, sex, age/sex, and deprivation rates are estimated rates. 95% confidence intervals around these rates were calculated to give an indication of the precision of the estimate of the rate.
For comparisons between:
and the all-Wales rate, the all-Wales rate is treated as an exact reference (no confidence interval). This is a widely adopted method for national level estimates, with the random error deemed negligible for large populations. If the confidence interval of the estimate lies outside of the all-Wales rate, then the difference is statistically significant. If the confidence interval of the estimate overlaps the all-Wales rate, the difference is not statistically significant.
For comparisons between two estimates such as:
Non-overlapping confidence intervals between values indicate that the difference is unlikely to have arisen from random variation (i.e., statistically significant). However, when the confidence intervals overlap, we cannot determine if there is a statistically significant difference or not by comparing confidence intervals alone, so a more exact test is required. The pairwise comparison looked at the difference between the rates and the 95% confidence intervals of the difference. When the confidence interval of the rate difference is above zero, the two rates are considered significantly different with 95% confidence. In order for the pairwise estimates to be robust a minimum count of 10 was required, so this was not undertaken for comparisons between age groups.
Therefore, where estimated rates are compared with each other, a difference is statistically significant if either:
Where appropriate, the mean (average) number of cases and standard deviation were estimated. It is expected that counts are within one standard deviation above or below the mean two thirds of the time. This gives a measure of whether there are counts or trends of concern.
Figures are for deaths that occurred during the stated time period and provide a timely indication of suspected suicides. This compares with official statistics which are published by year of registration, so the actual occurrence of those deaths may have been months or years prior.
Data fields for month of death, age, sex, postcode (for deprivation quintile), known to police in previous 6 months, mode of death and location type were almost 100% complete.
Collection of personally identifiable information means that we were able to link the data with additional data sources, either to add further information or to cross check existing data therefore improving the quality of the dataset.
The data collected are surveillance data so although we are able to provide more timely data than official statistics, the data are not of as high quality. There is limited trend data available, as only data from the previous two years are available as a comparison.
This report contains categories with small numbers which are prone to random variation and so caution should be used when interpreting the rate.
There are large confidence intervals around the rate estimates.
Deaths of all Welsh residents by suspected suicide may not be fully captured, because:
Data on occupation was incomplete so were not included in this report.
Data on mental health conditions and whether the person was known to mental health services in the 6 months prior to death was mainly based on information available to the Police. Much of this information included data from health information systems but this may not have always been available. We were able to include additional information and cross check some, but not all, data on mental health conditions and use of mental health services with other sources (e.g. Welsh Clinical Portal, reports from NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee).
The extent of data capture may vary between Police forces as different systems are accessed to obtain data.
A list of data fields has been developed for the RTSSS, but we are not yet able to collect all of the data, e.g., religion, disability status, or to establish the level of data quality, e.g. ethnic group, gender identity, sexual orientation.
For ethnic group we will explore the options for improving data quality, but it remains difficult in the absence of access to GP data. Data on gender identity or sexual orientation is not currently readily available from other sources, but when this becomes available from a reliable source, we will explore the feasibility of collecting this information.
The Office for National Statistics have published analyses estimating the rates of suicide by ethnic group, disability status, religious group (Sociodemographic inequalities in suicides in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics) and sexual orientation (Self-harm and suicide by sexual orientation, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics).
Following feedback from users:
Additional analyses using data from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025 have been included. These are: