HC Deb 30 October 2002 vol 391 cc798-9W
Mr. Keith Simpson

To 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]

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

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