Suicide rates in England and Wales reach highest level since 1999

Samaritans charity calls on government to invest in suicide prevention as it has with smoking reduction

Ministers have been urged to treat suicide as a public health crisis after the rate at which people killed themselves in England and Wales reached the highest level in more than two decades.

The official figures, described by the suicide prevention charity Samaritans as worse than expected", showed 6,069 suicides were registered in the two nations in 2023, up from 5,642 in 2022 and the highest rate since 1999.