Darren O'Rourke
Ceist:353. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Minister for Health the male suicide rate across the State, by age, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10786/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 11 February 2026
Ceisteanna (353)
Freagraí scríofa
The Department of Health is not responsible for the publication of statistics on the number of suicides in the State. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) publishes Vital Statistics for the Minister for Social Protection in accordance with the provisions of Section 2 of the Vital Statistics and Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act, 1952 and Government Order SI 831 of 2007. Vital Statistics include statistics on deaths by cause of death.
Data on deaths by date of occurrence is published by the CSO in the Vital Statistics Annual Report where all figures are classified by year of occurrence i.e. the year in which the death occurred (available at [https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/birthsdeathsandmarriages/vitalstatisticsannualreport/]). Information on deaths is only available for deaths which have been registered with the General Registers Office (GRO). Deaths not registered with the GRO during the year of occurrence or the subsequent 22 months are not available for the Vital Statistics Annual Report.
All deaths attributable to external causes are referred to the Coroner. Investigations can take a protracted length of time to complete. As such, these deaths are registered after the standard three-month time period, and can be later than the 22-month deadline for CSO Vital Statistics annual report publications.
As deaths due to external causes are reported to the Coroner's Office, the number of deaths reported for these causes for any given period will likely underrepresent the number of deaths which have occurred due to suicide, accidents or other external causes of mortality. Given the impact of late registrations, the CSO introduced a range of additional tables for ‘Revised Deaths Occurring’ to take account of late registered deaths.
The CSO publish a dedicated annual release on Suicide Statistics (available at [https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ss/suicidestatistics2022/]). The latest release was published in November 2025 for deaths occurring in 2022. In that release, the CSO reported that the crude suicide rate for 100,000 of the population was 9.6 overall, with it being 15.2 for males and 4.2 for females. Please find below a table of the crude suicide rate (per 100,000 population) for males, females and all persons by age group for 2022.
Table 1 Crude suicide death rates by sex and age group, 20221
|
Age Group |
All |
Male |
Female |
|
All ages |
9.6 |
15.2 |
4.2 |
|
10 - 14 years |
1.1 |
1.6 |
0.5 |
|
15 - 19 years |
7.7 |
12.7 |
2.4 |
|
20 - 24 years |
9.6 |
16.5 |
2.6 |
|
25 - 29 years |
13.7 |
22.8 |
4.7 |
|
30 - 34 years |
11.7 |
18.6 |
5.2 |
|
35 - 39 years |
13.5 |
21.7 |
6.0 |
|
40 - 44 years |
15.2 |
21.8 |
8.9 |
|
45 - 49 years |
13.0 |
20.4 |
5.8 |
|
50 - 54 years |
13.1 |
21.6 |
4.7 |
|
55 - 59 years |
14.5 |
22.2 |
7.0 |
|
60 - 64 years |
12.0 |
16.2 |
7.9 |
|
65 - 69 years |
9.6 |
16.0 |
3.3 |
|
70 - 74 years |
14.7 |
25.0 |
4.8 |
|
75 - 79 years |
7.7 |
12.1 |
3.7 |
|
80 - 84 years |
5.2 |
9.1 |
1.9 |
|
85 years and over |
3.6 |
6.3 |
1.9 |
Age-groups where no deaths occurred due to suicide have been omitted from this table
Source: CSO, Suicide Statistics 2022, Table 1 https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ss/suicidestatistics2022/
The CSO-Suicide Mortality Statistics Liaison Group (see https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/cgt/ocg/csogroups/smslg/) works with a range of stakeholders, including the Department of Health, to improve the quality and timeliness of suicide statistics and their dissemination.
Connecting for Life (CfL), Ireland’s national suicide reduction strategy, which came to an end in 2024, has guided suicide reduction efforts for the last decade. Reducing deaths by suicide is a very complex task, but evidence and experience internationally shows that measurable improvements in suicide prevention can be achieved through effective cross-governmental work. Connecting for Life adopted this approach and suicide reduction initiatives have been advanced in many areas, including health, local government, justice, media, and agriculture.
Work to develop a successor suicide reduction strategy is well advanced. Connecting for Life has been formally evaluated, and the Department of Health has run a public consultation survey, which received approximately 1,900 submissions, and held 7 in-person consultation sessions. The significant response by the public to this consultation demonstrates the strength of feeling to reducing lives lost to suicide in our country. The voices of those with lived experience will be central to shaping our next national strategy.
The reports arising from the various aspects of the public consultation and the findings from the evaluation of Connecting for Life will be invaluable in the development of Ireland’s next suicide reduction strategy.
An Expert Advisory Group, and a Lived Experience Reference Group, were established and have supported the development of recommendations for the new strategy. A draft strategy is currently under review and the Department of Health will launch this new strategy in 2026.