Suicides in Scotland increase as rates for women go up

New figures from the National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed a small increase in suicide rates in 2022 to 762 probable deaths.

The figure is up by nine compared to 2021, however, the number of suicides in Scotland has remained steady in the last number of years.

The rate of suspected suicides in males was almost three times as high as the rate for females, with 556 male deaths compared to 206 female.

However, male suicides decreased by nine compared to 2021, while rates for women increased by 18.

Meanwhile, NRS data showed those in the most deprived areas were more likely to die from suicide, with the mortality rate 2.6 times higher than in the least deprived.

The deprivation gap for suicides is 1.8 times higher than all causes of death in Scotland.

At a local level, the death rate was higher than the Scottish average in the Highland, Dundee City, East Ayrshire, and Perth and Kinross local authority areas.

Daniel Burns, head of vital events statistics at NRS, said: “While today’s statistics show a small increase in the number of suicide deaths, the rate of mortality in the last number of years has been fairly steady.

“The longer term trend show that over the last 30 years the rate of suicides for males is around three times as high as the female rate.

“Over the last two decades, the average age of death has increased from a low of 41.9 years in 2000 to 48.2 years in 2022.

“The figures also show that the rate of suicide in the most deprived areas in Scotland was 2.6 times as high as in the least deprived areas in Scotland.

The latest comparable statistics for the rest of the UK are yet to be released, however, in 2021, Scotland had the second highest suicide death rate in the UK after Northern Ireland.

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