For sector professionals: what the latest ONS suicide registrations data shows about men and the suicide statistics for England and Wales, how to interpret it responsibly, and how to communicate safely with clear signposting to support.

Estimated reading time: 0 minutes

Why this matters to the sector (and why The Asterisk Project is writing about it)

Suicide is a major public health issue. It is also an issue that sits across safeguarding, communications, and service design.

At The Asterisk Project, our mission is to break down barriers to mental health support for men through campaigning, practical resources, and navigation. It’s never just about statistics and numbers; data can help us to process information but it can also detach us from the reality that every data point is a human being – our strapline ‘There’s more to their story’ underscores this point.

For us, using data carefully is part of that mission. It helps us campaign responsibly, create practical resources that answer “what do I actually do next?”, and support navigation by making it easier for people to understand their options and find help.

This article is written for sector professionals because the way organisations communicate about suicide can either remove barriers or add to them.

People working in health, social care, mental health, and the charity sector often have to communicate about suicide in some way. That might be a report, a campaign, a blog post, staff guidance, a referral pathway, or a response to a local incident or community concern.

Done well, communication can reduce stigma, encourage help-seeking, and support prevention. Done badly, it can unintentionally increase risk.

This article is a practical overview for sector professionals. It summarises the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) suicide statistics for England and Wales, through the lens of men highlights common misreadings to avoid when interpreting and presenting suicide statistics, and suggests safer ways to communicate with clear signposting to support.

How we will cover this topic safely

We will not include method details, locations, or speculative “trigger” narratives. We will focus on what the latest data says, what it does not say, and what organisations can do that is practical and proportionate. If you are writing or commissioning content that mentions suicide, you may also want to use our companion resource:

• Reporting on male suicide safely: guidance for sector communications

What the latest ONS data says (and what it does not)

ONS publishes suicide statistics for England and Wales – not specifically about men. The latest bulletin covers long-term trends and provides breakdowns by sex, age, and region.[1]

A quick but important technical note: registrations versus occurrences

ONS headline suicide statistics are commonly discussed on a registrations basis. That means they count deaths that were registered in a given calendar year.

There is a delay between a death occurring and it being registered because suicide deaths are certified by a coroner and the inquest must be complete. In 2024, only 38.7% of suicides registered that year actually occurred in 2024.[1]

Practical implication: registrations data is essential for official trend monitoring, but it should not be treated as near real-time surveillance.

If you are writing for a general audience, this point is easy to miss. If you are writing for a professional audience, it is worth making explicit because it changes what claims you can responsibly make.

Key headline figures (England and Wales, registrations)

In 2024 there were 6,190 suicides registered in England and Wales. This equated to 11.4 deaths per 100,000, which was similar to 2023 (11.3 per 100,000).[1]

ONS reports that the male suicide rate remained relatively unchanged in 2024 at 17.6 deaths per 100,000, compared with 17.4 in 2023. The female rate was 5.7 deaths per 100,000 in both 2024 and 2023.[1]

What these numbers do not tell us

For sector professionals, it can be tempting to jump quickly from “pattern” to “explanation”. ONS data is not designed to provide a simple causal story.

At a high level, ONS suicide statistics can help you monitor long-term trends, identify groups and geographies where risk appears higher, and support proportional investment in prevention and support. They cannot, on their own, tell you why an individual person died by suicide, what the prevalent factors are in a particular area, or whether a campaign, a service change, or a news cycle caused an immediate change.

That limitation is not a reason to avoid the data. It is a reason to use it with care and sensitivity, and to combine it with other forms of evidence and local intelligence.

Patterns worth noting for practice

Statistics definitely do not tell us everything about why someone dies by suicide. However, they can help the sector understand scale, identify where support and prevention activity may need to be strengthened, and communicate responsibly without minimising the issue.

Age patterns

The ONS suicide statistics for England and Wales reported that the highest age-specific suicide rate in 2024 was for men – specifically males aged 50 to 54 years (27.5 deaths per 100,000).[1]

For the sector, this is not a prompt to stereotype. It is a prompt to ask practical questions such as:

• Are our support offers and communications accessible and credible to men in midlife?
• Are we making it easy for people to find help quickly, without needing to disclose everything upfront?
• Are our services set up in a way that recognises the reality of work, caring responsibilities, stigma, and isolation?

This might show up in mundane details that matter, such as appointment times, whether information is readable on a phone, the tone of first-contact messaging, and whether a person has to “tell their whole story” to get to the next step.

Geography and region

ONS publishes breakdowns by region and notes that rates vary across England and Wales.[1]

Regional variation can be useful for commissioning and partnership work, aligning signposting with local pathways, and understanding where workforce training and support might be especially important.

However, it is also an area where communications can go wrong. When writing for a public audience, Samaritans advises avoiding references that frame a location as “known for” or “popular for” suicides.[2]

For a sector-professional piece, a safe approach is to keep geography discussion focused on the fact that rates vary, to encourage the use of local data for planning, and to avoid simplistic ranking narratives.

Interpreting suicide statistics responsibly: common misreadings to avoid

Even in professional contexts, suicide statistics are often presented in ways that are unhelpful or risky.

Here are some common misreadings to avoid.

1) Treating suicide as a single-issue problem

Suicide is complex. Most of the time there is not a single “trigger” or “cause”. Oversimplified explanations can be inaccurate, can increase stigma, and can create harmful narratives for people who identify with the story.

If you are writing organisational content, one useful discipline is to separate what you know from the data, what you hypothesise based on wider evidence, and what you will do in response.

2) Using sensational or deterministic language

Avoid dramatic phrasing that implies suicide is inevitable, common, or “contagious by default”. Samaritans advises avoiding language that sensationalises or glorifies suicide, including strong terms such as “suicide epidemic”.[2]

In general, aim for language that is factual, proportionate, and oriented towards help-seeking and prevention.

3) Over-reading short-term changes

Year-to-year changes can be influenced by many factors, including registration delays and statistical volatility (especially for smaller populations).

A practical approach for most organisations is to use multi-year trends where possible, be clear about whether a statistic relates to registrations or occurrences, and avoid “this proves…” claims.

4) Publishing content that is “accurate” but still risky

It is possible to write something that is statistically correct and still increases risk.

For example, content can become risky when it provides unnecessary detail, suggests inevitability, invites identification with a single story, or fails to signpost support clearly. This is why Samaritans’ media guidance is relevant for the sector, not just for newsrooms.[3]

From data to action: implications for services, communications, and partnership work

One of The Asterisk Project’s key areas of focus is on the practical space between “the numbers” and what people can actually access in real life. Sector organisations cannot control the wider social determinants alone. But organisations can reduce friction in the places people actually try to access support.

Make support easy to find, even for people who do not want to disclose much

For many people, the first step is not a referral or a formal assessment. It is looking for a safe next step.

Good practice can include clear “what to do today” signposting on relevant pages, low-friction contact routes, and language that does not imply someone has to be in crisis to seek support. A useful test for sector websites is: Could someone who is struggling read this page quickly and know what to do next?

Equip staff and volunteers for disclosures

Even when suicide is not your organisation’s core remit, staff may receive disclosures. Make sure teams know what to do, what not to do, and where to signpost. This can be as simple as maintaining a short internal “if someone discloses suicidal thoughts” protocol, plus a list of local pathways.

Build communications that reduce shame and increase help-seeking

Messages that help tend to make help-seeking feel normal, avoid judgement, acknowledge complexity, and offer a clear next step.

For a sector-professional audience, it can be useful to write these principles into your comms workflow. For example, use a short checklist at draft stage, ensure any content that mentions suicide gets a second pair of eyes, and set a simple rule that signposting must be present before publication.

Communicating about suicide: a safer approach for professional content

If you need a simple internal guideline, it is this:

Be factual. Avoid method and “trigger” narratives. Make the next step to support clear.

Samaritans highlights several practical points that are especially relevant to organisational communications: avoid method details, avoid sensational language, avoid speculation about a single cause or trigger, and include clear signposting to support while reinforcing that suicide is preventable.[1][2]

A practical mini-template (for internal use)

When you are reviewing a draft (blog, campaign copy, report, social post), ask:

• What is the one sentence that describes the purpose of this content?
• What might a vulnerable reader take away from it?
• Where is the signposting, and is it easy to see?
• Have we avoided unnecessary detail?
• Have we avoided a single-cause story?

If you cannot answer those questions quickly, it is a sign the content may need revision.

Suggested signposting copy (for toolkits and websites)

• Short version (footer / sidebar): If you are struggling to cope or worried about someone else, Samaritans are here day or night, 365 days a year. Call 116 123 for free.
• Longer version (resource pages): Support is available. If you need to talk, Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116 123. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999 or go to A&E.

Support prevention

For sector professionals, the priority is to communicate in a way that supports prevention.

• Use ONS data with the registrations versus occurrences caveat.[1]
• Avoid speculation, sensationalism, and method detail.[2]
• Make support routes easy to find, and make help-seeking feel possible.

For The Asterisk Project, this is not about adding another voice to a crowded conversation. It is about making the conversation more useful and understanding what the ONS data on suicide statistics for England and Wales means for men and the people who care about them.

If you are a practitioner, commissioner, charity leader, or communications professional, and you want a simple way to sense-check a draft before it goes live:

• Use our checklist resource: Reporting on male suicide safely: guidance for sector communications

And if you are reading this because you are worried about yourself or someone else, support is available. Samaritans (UK & ROI): call 116 123 (free, 24/7).