“There has also been a continued increase in suicides for males under the age of 30, however, these remain lower than the peak seen in the late 1990's and remains significantly lower than the suicide rate for middle-aged males despite falls in recent years."

How do suicide rates vary regionally?

Within the UK’s constituent countries there were some big variations in the suicide rate last year. Scotland and England saw decreases, whilst Wales and Northern Ireland saw large increases.

These increases were largely driven by increases in male suicide deaths, however, Wales and Northern Ireland saw large decreases in their suicide rates in 2014, which makes the increase in 2015 look larger.

Of the English regions in 2015, the suicide rate was highest in Yorkshire and The Humber at 11.6 per 100,000 population.

The suicide rate in Yorkshire and The Humber was significantly higher than the West Midlands, South East and the East of England, which had the lowest rate at 9.3 per 100,000.

However, the rates for the English regions were lower in comparison with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.