§ Mr. Keith SimpsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many(a) soldiers, (b) sailors and (c) airmen have committed suicide in each year since 1972 [76672]
799W
§ Mr. Ingram[holding answer 24 October 2002]: Centrally held statistics on suicides using consistent definitions are only available from 1984 onwards.
There have been 445 recorded suicides between 1 January 1984 and 31 December 2001 within Regular Armed Forces (including Gurkhas). There figures are
Number of reported suicides in the Armed Forces by Service over the period 1 January 1984–31 December 2001 Year of death Service 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 Navy 2 3 7 3 6 4 8 6 6 1 6 1 5 3 0 4 4 Army 15 14 16 11 23 22 20 22 19 18 19 16 17 15 9 9 9 RAF 7 4 8 7 7 5 14 8 7 9 5 3 7 4 2 1 5 Total 24 21 31 21 36 31 42 36 32 28 30 20 24 22 11 13 18