Background Notes

Definition of Suicide

In Ireland, suicide is defined as the act of intentionally killing oneself.  The classification of a death as suicide is based on a Coroner’s report and, where necessary, a report from the Garda that attended the scene. 

Civil Registration Act 2004

All deaths occurring in the State must be registered.  The Civil Registration Act 2004 (Part 5 subsection 37) states:

“When a death occurs in the State, it is the duty of

  (a)    a relative of the deceased who has knowledge of the required particulars in relation to the death, and

  (b)   if there is no such relative who can be found or every such relative is incapable through ill health of complying with this subsection, each other qualified informant, unless he or she reasonably believes that another qualified informant has complied with it in relation to the death,

within 3 months from the date of death to give to any registrar the required particulars of the death in the form standing specified for the time being by an tArd-Chlaraitheoir”.

Registration

A death is registered with a Registrar of Births and Deaths.  A relative or other eligible person must obtain a Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death from the medical practitioner who attended the deceased. This Medical Certificate has the following information:

Part 1(a)     Disease or condition directly leading to death, (this does not mean the mode of dying e.g. heart failure etc., it means the disease that caused death) due to (or as consequence of)

Part 1(b)     Antecedent Causes   (morbid conditions, if any, giving rise to the above cause stating the underlying condition last due to (or as consequence of)

Part 1 (c)    Further Antecedent Causes

Part 2        Other Significant Conditions (contributing to the death but not related to the disease or condition causing it).

A death is registered when a qualified informant (often a spouse or next-of-kin) attends at the office of the Registrar of Births and Deaths and provides the following information:

• Date and place of death
• Full name and surname of deceased
• Marital status of deceased
• Sex of deceased
• Age\date of birth of deceased
• Occupation of deceased

This information is recorded on a death notification form.  The person registering the death must also produce a Medical Certificate of the Cause of Death signed by a doctor who treated the deceased within one month prior to death. 

All deaths that are registered are forwarded electronically by individual registrar’s offices located around the country to the General Register Office (GRO).

Late Registrations

The CSO publishes quarterly and annual statistics on deaths classified by year of registration.  It also publishes annual statistics on deaths by year of occurrence, with a time lag of about 2 years.  The figures in this release are based on year of occurrence unless otherwise stated.

Late registrations, which may occur for a variety of reasons, are not included in the figures.  The most common reason for a late registration of a death is that it is referred to the Coroner for further investigation.

In 2011, for example, an additional 578 deaths were registered in respect of previous years.  Of these, 25 were classified as suicide in the following years:

• 18 additional suicides in 2009,
• 4 in 2008,
• 2 in 2004
• 1 classified to 1999 or earlier.  

An analysis was carried out in respect of the late registrations of suicide deaths from 2006 to 2011.  The average (mean) time-lag between the occurrence and the late registration of suicide deaths appears to have widened significantly in 2011 but this can be explained by the late registration of one particular death that occurred in 1978 but was not registered until 2011.  The median time-lag appears relatively stable since 2006. See fig. 3 below.

Crude and standardised death rates

The crude (or unadjusted) death rate describes mortality in relation to the total population.  Expressed in deaths per 100,000 of population, it is calculated as the number of deaths recorded in the population for a given period divided by population in the same period and then multiplied by 100,000.

The standardised (or adjusted) death rate is the death rate of a population adjusted to a standard age distribution. It is calculated as a weighted average of the age-specific death rates of a given population; the weights are the age distribution of that population. For example:

As most causes of death vary significantly with people’s age and sex, the use of standardised death rates improves comparability over time and between countries. The reason is that death rates can be measured independently of the age structure of populations in different times and countries (sex ratios usually are more stable).

Standardised death rates are calculated on the basis of the 'European Standard Population' revised by Eurostat in 2012 (and published in 2013).

Suicide data 1950-2013

The numbers of recorded suicides and crude rates classified by gender from 1950 to 2013 are provided in Annex 1.  Data for 2012 and 2013 are based on date of registration of death.

Data should be interpreted with care and as population changes, attitudes to death from self-harm, the introduction of the Form 104 in 1967 and it's revision in 1998, the Criminal Law (Suicide) Act 1993 and other factors would affect trends over time.

Form 104

Suicide Statistics 2011 Form 104

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