Scottish cities

Suicide in Scottish cities

The total suicide rate in Glasgow is higher than the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Scotland as a whole, until the most recent period (2012-2016). In the most recent period, all cities rates were higher than the national average, with Dundee with the highest total suicide rate (16.7 per 100,000 population).

Male suicide in Scottish cities

Between 1982 and 2011, the suicide rate for males in Glasgow was substantially higher than the cities of Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh and the Scottish average. The male suicide rate in Glasgow has declined more rapidly than other Scottish cities, and in the most recent period Dundee had the highest male suicide rate (24.3 per 100,000 in 2012-2016). All of the Scottish cities had male suicide rates above the national average in the most recent period.

Female suicide in Scottish cities

The female suicide rate was consistently higher in Glasgow and Dundee compared to the other Scottish cities from 1982-2011. However, in the most recent period the suicide rates in females declined rapidly in Glasgow, and Edinburgh had a higher rate of suicides than Glasgow (8.2 compared to 7.8 per 100,000, respectively). All of the Scottish cities had female suicide rates above the national average in the most recent period (2012-2016).

Notes 

In 2011, the National Records of Scotland (NRS) upgraded the software used to code causes of death to take account of updates made by the World Health Organization (WHO) to the codes for certain causes of death. As a result, there is a difference in how deaths data was coded for 2011 onwards compared to previous years, with deaths previously coded under ‘mental and behavioural disorders’ now being classed as ‘self-poisoning of undetermined intent’ and consequently as suicides. Full details on changes to the coding of causes of death between 2010 and 2011 can be found on the  NRS website.