In recent years, I have published charts of the number of reported suicides in the Isle of Man, so that you can see the number of suicides in the Isle of Man in context to recent years. Here is a new update which includes data from 2022 which was reported by Gef on the basis of data published by the Isle of Man Government. The underlying source is reproduced below.

Some notes on this chart:

  • The number of suicides in 2022 was marginally above the pre-2020 mean, but well within ordinary statistical expectations.
  • Similarly to Manx Radio’s reporting in 2021, Gef reported that the 2021 and 2022 “information was released following an FoI request.” It is bonkers that a news outlet needs to submit a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to obtain these records: a mature society and responsible Government would publish such data proactively without waiting for an organisation to use the FOI system to extract the records.
  • As before, there are conflicting reports on the number of suicides for various years. Part of the conflict may be due to different definitions. Primary sources used here are a Tynwald report and media reports. You can see the sources detailed here. If anyone has any better information, please do let me know!
  • The reported surge for 2020 is more than 4 standard deviations from the previous mean, so it is certainly statistically significant (it is not just random noise).
  • An undated statement from Public Health IOM in late 2020 or early 2021 confirmed a surge in local suicides during the 2020 calendar year: “There has been a large increase in suspected suicides in recent months above the baseline of previous years.“
  • There is some doubt about whether some of the data relates to suicides which took place in certain years, or coroner findings of suicides which took place in certain years. I think that a suicide which took place in November, with a coroner’s finding in the subsequent February, would be listed in the year of the subsequent February.

If you, or someone you know, is at risk of suicide, please call Samaritans here on the Isle of Man. Their phone number is 116 123 (tap to call; free from any phone) and they have a branch at 5 Victoria Place, Douglas.

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Source documents

The 2023 Freedom of Information response from the Isle of Man Government:

Response-all-information-to-be-suppliedDownload

Michael Josem is a long-term consumer advocate, most prominently as a global leader in combating fraud in the online gambling industry. He was in part the inspiration for the 20th Century Fox Movie, Runner Runner, starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

Josem has over a decade of experience as a senior business leader working across various high-tech and online industries, and takes action to build a better community. His primary volunteer roles include service for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and Graih, the homelessness charity.