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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Robert Booth Social affairs correspondent

Suicide rates in England and Wales reach highest level since 1999

Suicide Samaritans England Wales Smoking
A man walks along a pavement under street lights at dusk
Three-quarters of the 6,069 people to have killed themselves in 2023 were males. Photograph: FotoDuets/Getty Images/iStockphoto

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.

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