Armed Forces: Suicide
(asked on 8th October 2018) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many serving Armed Forces personnel have committed suicide in the last (a) month, (b) two months, (c) six months, (d) year and (e) two years; and in which service branches those suicides occurred.
The Ministry of Defence publishes annual statistics on the rates of suicide amongst Serving personnel annually and the rates for the period 1 January 1984 to 31 December 2107, published on 27 March 2018, can be found at the following address:
The following provides a breakdown of coroner confirmed suicide and open verdict deaths (in line with the definition used by the Office for National Statistics) by month and Service from 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2018 (the last full month available) as requested. It should be noted that the numbers presented may change when outstanding coroner verdicts are returned on deaths that have occurred since 1 October 2016.
In September 2018 (the last full month available) there were no coroner confirmed suicide or open verdict deaths.
In August and September 2018 (the last full two months available) there were no coroner confirmed suicide or open verdict deaths.
From 1 April 2018 to 30 September 2018 (the last full six months available) there were no coroner confirmed suicide or open verdict deaths.
From 1 October 2017 to 30 September 2018 (the last full 12 months available) there were four coroner confirmed suicide or open verdict deaths. Three personnel were from the Army and one from the RAF.
From 1 October 2016 to 30 September 2018 (the last full 24 months available) there were 13 coroner confirmed suicide or open verdict deaths. Three personnel were from the Naval Service[1], nine from the Army and one from the RAF.
Suicide among members of the Armed Forces remains extremely rare and is generally lower than comparative rates in the civilian population.
[1] Royal Navy and Royal Marines