England’s rate of registered suicide deaths was lower in the second quarter than a year earlier, while long registration delays mean the 2026 tally includes deaths from several calendar years, official data showed Monday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) recorded 1,385 deaths by suicide in England from April through June, at a provisional rate of 10.7 per 100,000 people. That rate was slightly above the first quarter of 2026 but below the second quarter of 2025. The rate expresses registrations relative to the population, rather than counting only deaths that occurred during those three months.
For January through June, the ONS registered 2,698 deaths. Of that total, 1,832 occurred in 2025, 379 in 2024 or earlier, and 487 in 2026. The figures are grouped by registration date, so the period covered by a quarterly total does not necessarily match when the deaths occurred.
The median time between a death and its registration was 185 days in the second quarter of 2026, compared with 186 days in the same quarter of 2025. The ONS said coroner inquests can delay registration. As a result, the second-quarter count should not be read as a count of deaths that all took place between April and June.
Men accounted for 1,048 second-quarter registrations, at a rate of 16.8 per 100,000 males. Women accounted for 337 registrations, at 5.0 per 100,000 females.
Among English regions, the North East recorded the highest rate, at 13.9 per 100,000 people. London had the lowest, at 7.1 per 100,000.
The ONS classifies the 2026 figures as provisional and the release as official statistics in development. The date of the next release has not been announced.
