Suicide & Self-harm

Suicide and self-harm are both serious public health problems. The suicide and self-harm dashboard brings together data on prevalence, risk factors, and services within Barnet.

You may also be interested in the Mental Health dashboard (please click here), or in the Children and Young People Self-harm Needs Assessment (please click here).

What’s new?

• Incidence of new diagnoses of depression for 2024/25

• Social care users social interaction data for 2024/25

• Specialist drug and alcohol treatment completions rates for 2024/25

Headline Figures

• The suicide rate in Barnet peaked in 2014-16 with a rate of 9.8 per 100,000. It has since declined and in 2022-24, was 7.0 per 100,000. This is significantly below the England average.

• Emergency admissions for self harm were 51 per 100,000 in 2023/24, which is significantly below the national average. The rate of admissions is highest in those aged 10-19 years old.

• Risk factors:

  • The prevalence of depression has significantly increased since 2012/13 to reach 10.8% in 2024/25 - this remains below the England average.

  • Just 37.9% of social care users in Barnet report that they have as much social interaction as they’d like – this is significantly below the London and England average .

  • More positively, the rate of first time entrants to the youth justice system has significantly declined since 2014, as has the number of long-term seekers of Job Seekers Allowance.

Narrative

Rates and Admissions: In 2022-24, the suicide rate in Barnet was 7 per 100,000 – this is similar to the London average (7.5 per 100,000) but significantly below the England average (10.9 per 100,000). In Barnet, the rate is higher in men (10.1 per 100,000) than women (4.4 per 100,000). In Barnet in 2020-22, 214.6 years of life were lost due to suicide in those aged 15-74. This is significantly below the England average. Emergency admissions for self harm have been declining over time in Barnet. In 2023/24 the rate was 51 per 100,000, which is significantly below the national average. The rate of admissions is highest in those aged 10-19 years old and higher in women compared to men

Risk Factors:

• Childhood: The rate of children in care in Barnet in 2023/24 is 36 per 10,000, which is below both the London (51 per 10,000) and England average (70 per 10,000). In 2024 the rate of first time entrants to the youth justice system was 145 per 100,000 – this has significantly decreased over the last decade.

• Social isolation: This is prevalent in Barnet with only 37.9% of adult social care users having as much social interaction as they’d like (2024/25), and just 30.3% of adult social carers saying the same (2023/24).

• Unemployment: The model-based unemployment rate in 2023 in Barnet is 5.4%, which is similar to both the London and England averages. However, the rate of long-term JSA seekers in Barnet was 0.7 per 1,000 in those aged 16-64 years in 2023 – this is significantly below both the London (1.0 per 1,000) and England averages (0.9 per 1,000).

• Violence: In 2023/24, the rate of domestic abuse related incidents and crimes was 22.3 per 1,000 in Barnet and in 2024/25 the violent crime offence rate was 18.2 per 1,000 – both of these rates are below the national average.

• Alcohol admissions: The rate of adult alcohol-specific condition admissions episodes in Barnet in 2023/24 was significantly below the regional and national average at 423 per 100,000. However, the rate of admissions for alcohol-specific conditions in those under 18 is significantly above the London average and similar to the England average at 23.5 per 100,000 in 2021/22 to 2003/24. Rates in those under 18 are higher in females, whereas for adults it is the male admission rate that is higher.

• Mental health: There is a 10.8% depression prevalence in adults in Barnet – this has risen throughout time but is still significantly lower than the England average of 14.3%. The prevalence of psychotic/bipolar disorders in Barnet is 1.1% – this is higher than the England average but lower than the London average.

Services:

• Specialist drug treatment services: The rate of adults in specialist drug treatment services was 3.2 per 1,000 in 2024/25 in Barnet, significantly lower than the England average of 5.0 per 1,000. Those undergoing non-opiate treatment have a successful completion rate of 24.2% whereas just 3.1% of opiate drug treatment is successfully completed. These rates are similar to both the London and England averages.

• Specialist alcohol treatment services: In Barnet in 2020/21, the rate of adults in specialist alcohol treatment services was 1.2 per 1,000, which is lower than the England average of 2.2 per 1,000. Successful completion of this treatment is currently at 27.1%, which sits below the national average of 34.6%.

For information on suicide prevention resources and support, please click here.