Suicide Statistics 2019

Legal determination of the cause of death

The Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993 decriminalised the act of suicide.

The average annual number of deaths over the five-year period from 2015 to 2019 was approximately 31,000. In many cases the cause of death is known, i.e. the deceased was under the care of a doctor etc. In these cases, the doctor can fill out the Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death in a relatively straightforward manner as the cause was generally an illness or sickness the deceased suffered. However, in approximately 50-60% of all cases (16,000 to 18,000 cases annually), the cause of death is not immediately known and the case is referred to a Coroner. Deaths from sudden, unexplained, violent, and unnatural deaths must be reported and investigated by the Coroner, see Irish Statute Book for further information. 

The Coroner is an independent office holder with responsibility under the law for the medico-legal investigation. The Coroner's investigation may require a post-mortem examination, sometimes followed by an inquest. The Coroner’s inquiry will establish whether death was due to natural or unnatural causes, see Dublin Coroner for further information.

If death is due to unnatural causes, then an inquest must be held by law. An inquest takes place in about 15% of cases referred to a Coroner (some 2,000 to 2,200 cases each year). The death will be registered by means of a Coroner’s Certificate when the inquest is concluded (or adjourned in some cases).

For further information please see the General Register Office Annual Report 2019 and the Coroners Annual Returns 2019.

Late Registrations

Users should note that the number of deaths from suicide for a given year may increase if such a death is registered late. This should be borne in mind when examining trends over time and when making comparisons, for recent years, with other countries. 

This release uses current data to revise the suicide figures in Annex Table above. The originally published data was published at T+22 months after the reference period in question, so for example, results for year 2019 was first published in October 2021. For this release, we have revised the number of suicides for years 2011 – 2019 inclusive.

Inquests, coroners reports and challenges for deaths classed as suicide, can take longer than the 22-month timeframe to reach a conclusion and appear in the figures above. These reasons help to explain the difference between current data and originally published data.

Statistical Classification - Form 104

A Form 104 is issued by the CSO to the Gardaí in respect of most inquest cases. This form is sent to the Divisional Inspector of the relevant location where the death occurred and is then redirected to the Garda that attended the scene of the death. The Form 104 collects additional information on the circumstances/location of the death and the information returned on this form is strictly confidential under the Statistics Act 1993.

The Garda completing the Form 104 provides his/her opinion as to whether the death was an accident, homicide, suicide or undetermined. That information is taken into account when the CSO assigns a statistical code for cause of death.

The Form 104 was first issued in October 1967 and revised in 1998 following a recommendation by the Taskforce on Suicide, to improve the statistical classification of deaths by suicide. A copy of the revised version of the form is included in the background notes.

Cause of Death Determination Process

From the 1st January 2018 the CSO is using new automated software called IRIS for selecting the underlying cause of death code (UCOD). The IRIS coding system:The IRIS Coding System has been developed by the IRIS core group to code mortality data and is the preferred coding tool for European countries, see CSO Quality Report.

The mortality coder when coding inquest cases in the CSO examines both the Coroner's Certificate and Form 104, where applicable, and assign ICD-10 classification codes to all other reported conditions and select the UCOD, defined as:

(a) the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death, or (b) the circumstances of the accident or violence which produced the fatal injury.

The mortality coders apply the W.H.O international mortality coding instructions pre-supposing that data has been collected with a death certificate conforming to the International Form of Medical Certificate of Cause of Death as recommended by the WHO. It is the responsibility of the medical practitioner or other qualified certifier signing the death certificate to indicate which morbid conditions led directly to death and to state any pre-existing conditions giving rise to this cause, see: ICD 11 Mortality an Morbidity Reference Guide: ICD 11 Mortality and Morbidity Reference Guide

These are key to the correct assignment of the underlying cause of death and the hierarchy in which the causes are written on the death certificate impacts on the assignment of the UCOD.

If the Coroner's Certificate states that the death was by suicide and provides enough information to assign a statistical cause of death code, it is not necessary for the CSO to issue a Form 104 to the Gardai. If there is not enough information provided by the Coroner's Certificate then it is necessary for the CSO to issue a Form 104. When assigning a cause of death code, if the Coroner's Certificate does not mention suicide but the Garda states on Form 104 that the death was as a result of intentional self-harm, the statistical cause of death is coded as suicide. 

The classification system used for cause of death is 10^th revision of the International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, See ICD 10 Classification Coding Dictionary: (ICD-10).