The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 22 June 2006:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking how many farmers committed suicide in each of the last 10 years. (79499)
The most recently available information is for deaths in 2004. Figures for deaths of farm workers and farm owners from suicide (intentional self-harm) or injury/poisoning of undetermined intent are shown in the table below for each year from 1995 to 2004.
Number of deaths 1995 54 1996 64 1997 59 1998 72 1999 70 2000 58 2001 55 2002 45 2003 55 2004 42 1 The cause of death for intentional self-harm was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E950-E959for the years 1995 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 to 2004, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X60-X84. 2 The cause of death for injury/poisoning of undetermined intent was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E980-E989 excluding E988.8for 1995 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 to 2004, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes Y10-Y34 excluding Y33.9 where the Coroner’s verdict was pending. 3 The occupation coded at death registration is the last gainful occupation of the deceased, as supplied by the informant who registers the death. Occupation is not coded by ONS for deaths of persons aged over 74. ONS Standard Occupational Classification 1990 (SOC90) codes 900, 901 and 160 were selected for data from 1995 to 2000, and ONS Standard Occupational Classification 2000 (SOC2000) codes 8223, 9111, 1211 and 5111 were selected for data from 2001 to 2004. 4 Data are for occurrences of death in each calendar year.
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 22 June 2006:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent question asking what the rate of suicide was among people in (a) areas with a population below 10,000 inhabitants and (b) England in each of the last 10 years. I am replying in her absence. (79498)
ONS does not produce suicide rates for areas smaller than local authorities as meaningful figures cannot be calculated for very small populations. The latest available suicide rates for local authorities in England and Wales are for the period 2000-2003 and these can be found on the National Statistics website: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=13618
The most recent year for which figures are available for England is 2004. The table below shows rates for deaths with a verdict of suicide or injury/poisoning of undetermined intent in England for the years 1995 to 2004.
Rate 1995 9.2 1996 9.1 1997 9.3 1998 9.6 1999 9.5 2000 9.0 2001 8.5 2002 8.4 2003 8.2 2004 8.1 1 Rates per 100,000 population standardised to the European Standard Population. 2 The cause of death for suicide (intentional self-harm) and injury/poisoning of undetermined intent was defined using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes E950-E959 and E980-E989 excluding E988.8 for the years 1995 to 2000, and, for the years 2001 to 2004, the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes X60-X84 and Y10-Y34 excluding Y33.9 where the Coroner’s verdict was pending. 3 Figures are for deaths occurring in each calendar year.