Last year there was an increase in the number of people who died by suicide, new figures from Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) have revealed.

The figures break down data on gender, age and location of the 237 people who died by suicide in 2021.

The figures published by NISRA show there were 237 suicide deaths in 2021– the highest number since 2015, and representing an increase of 18 (8.2 per cent) from the 219 suicide deaths registered in 2020.

The figures highlight that almost three quarters (74.3 per cent) of those who ended their own lives were male; 176 (74.3 per cent) of suicide deaths in Northern Ireland were males, and 61 (25.7 per cent) were females.

The suicide death rate (standardised for age) for both males and females has been on a general upward trajectory since 2019.

The rate for males increased from 19.1 per 100,000 males in 2019 to 21.5 in 2021, while for females, the equivalent rate increased from 6.0 per 100,000 females in 2019 to 7.3 in 2021.

Other figures laid bare included the statistic that overall in 2021, one in every three suicide deaths was someone under the age of 30.

Suicide deaths were highest for men between the ages of 25 and 29, and 45 and 49, while for women, the highest number of suicide deaths were between the ages of 20 and 24.

Northern Ireland had an age-standardised rate of 14.3 suicides per 100,000 population in 2021. This is slightly higher than the 14.0 suicides per 100,000 population for Scotland, but notably above the rate for England and Wales, at 10.5 suicides per 100,000.

The Belfast Trust had the highest suicide rate, at 17.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2021, followed by the Western Trust, at 16 deaths per 100,000.

The Northern Trust had the lowest suicide rate in 2021, at 10.4 deaths per 100,000.

Northern Ireland’s most deprived areas had a suicide rate that was almost twice that of the least deprived areas in 2020 (at 19.7 deaths per 100,000 in the most deprived areas, and 10.8 per 100,000 in the least deprived).