About Statistics

This section of the website aims to give you an overview of suicide* rates in Scotland only. For more detailed information and breakdowns please visit either the  Scottish Public Health Observatory (ScotPHO), which holds public health intelligence for Scotland, or General Register Office for Scotland (GROS). It is important to note that annual changes are based on relatively small numbers, so may not be statistically significant. For monitoring purposes it is conventional to pool rates over a three year period, and develop three-year rolling averages. In this way, attention shifts from yearly fluctuations. For more information on how to use the statistics, please see our guide.

*When reporting suicide data, it is conventional to combine deaths classified as intentional self-harm with those of undetermined intent, as the majority of the latter are probable suicides. Doing so protects against under-recording and provides a more accurate figure for international and geographical comparisons. Therefore, the term 'suicide' throughout this section is used to refer to deaths by intentional self-harm and undetermined intent combined.

Headline Statistics

• There were 843 deaths by suicide in Scotland in 2008. This equates to an age-standardised rate of 16.1 per 100,000 population.
• Based on three-year rolling averages there was a 10% fall in suicide rates between 2000-02 and 2006-08. These rates have shown little change since 2003-05 although rates in men have increased marginally in the latest 3-year period.
• In 2008 the suicide rate for males continues to bearound three times that for females.
• Suicide rates increased with deprivation, with rates in the most deprived areas of Scotland significantly higher than the rate for Scotland generally.
• Between 1999-03 and 2004-08, the suicide rate decreased in 13 of the 14 NHS Boards and in 26 of the 32 local authorities