The Office for National Statistics recently published its latest analysis on student suicides in England and Wales – and found a decline in rates over the academic years 2016/17 to 2019/20.
Whilst the report notes some caution that this may, in part, be because of delays to coroner’s outcomes caused by the pandemic, what is clear from the data is that student suicide rates in England and Wales are less than half the rates compared with the general population at similar ages.
The reasons for this are not fully understood – but the ready access to free mental health support when at universities is likely to be a factor. This is a positive but there will always be more that we can do.
