Self-harm and suicide by sexual orientation in England and Wales: March 2021 to December 2023

For the first time, the Office for National Statistics have linked census data to death registrations and administrative NHS hospital records to estimate how the risk of intentional self-harm and suicide differs by sexual orientation. This applies to data from England and Wales between the periods of March 2021 to December 2023.

Compared with people identifying themselves as “Straight or Heterosexual”:

– Risk of intentional self-harm was 2.5 times higher for people identifying with an LGB+ orientation.
– Risk of self-harm was 2.8 times higher for those describing themselves as “Bisexual”
– Risk of self-harm was 2.4 times higher for those describing themselves as “Gay or Lesbian”
– Risk of self-harm was 2.2 times higher for those who selected “Other sexual orientation”.