Guernsey's suicide rate is below its 2019-21 peak, and Jersey's has held steady

Guernsey's suicide rate peaked in 2019-21 and is lower now, on figures that are still provisional. Jersey's rate has stayed level for a decade. Both come from small populations, so each report warns that a handful of deaths moves the figure.

Neither island is part of the NHS. The two governments run their own health services and their own free talking therapies. This page sets out what the reports measure and where they stop.

9.6

in every 100,000 in Guernsey

2022-24, provisional Guernsey: mortality 2024

down from 15.4

7.0

in every 100,000 in Jersey

2021-23 Jersey: mortality 2024

similar for a decade

42%

of air search callouts

2021-25 Bailiwick Express 2026

were for someone missing

What the Guernsey reports measure

Guernsey's Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy compares the island with England and Wales. Over the three years to 2021, Guernsey recorded fifteen deaths by suicide or undetermined injury for every 100,000 people. England and Wales recorded ten in 2021.

For deaths registered in 2024, England and Wales recorded 11.4.

So Guernsey's rate was about half as high again.

The same report counts eleven such deaths on the island in 2021. That was the highest single-year total in the previous 21 years.

The Mortality Trends Report published in 2025 shows the rate coming down. On the report's revised figures the peak was 15.4.

The rate for the three years to 2024 is 9.6. That is about one death in every 10,000 people a year.

That figure is provisional. Inquests for some 2024 deaths had not closed when the report went to print. If every open inquest records suicide, the rate could rise to 11.0.

For 2024 alone, the report counts 6 confirmed deaths by suicide or undetermined injury. The count could reach 10 once the last inquests close.

Even at that ceiling, the rate sits below the peak. Men made up 76% of the deaths the report counts.

The States add a caution in their 2025 strategy report. Because the island records so few deaths, they say "this observed decrease is not statistically significant".

Sources: Guernsey: strategy 2023 to 2029, ONS: suicides 2024, Guernsey: mortality 2024, Guernsey: strategy report 2025

What the Jersey report measures

Jersey's Mortality Report uses the same scale of deaths for every 100,000 people. Over the three years to 2023 the island's rate was 7.0.

The authors call that "statistically similar to the rate over the past decade". England's rate over the same period was 10.3.

The report is careful about that comparison. It warns of "wide confidence intervals for Jersey rates, due to the small number of deaths".

Jersey's 2025 mental health needs assessment is firmer. It calls the same 7.0 "significantly lower" than England's rate, which it gives as 10.7. So two government reports use different England figures, and they disagree on whether the gap is real.

The needs assessment adds one more measured fact. Between 2014 and 2023, about seven in ten of the island's suicides were men.

Jersey has published no suicide rate after 2021-23. Its next mortality report, due on 12 November 2026, should give the rate for 2022-24.

Sources: Jersey: mortality 2024, Jersey: needs assessment 2025, Jersey: publication schedule

Why small islands produce wide error bars

A suicide rate is a count of deaths divided by the population, scaled to 100,000 people. Neither island has that many residents in a single age band. Two extra deaths in a year can move the published rate a long way.

That is why both reports use three-year rolling periods. It is also why the direction of travel matters more than any one decimal.

Guernsey's rate is below its peak, but the States say the fall is not statistically significant. Jersey's has not moved in any direction its mortality report can measure.

What the air search counts

Channel Islands Air Search is a volunteer charity that flies search and rescue over Channel Island waters. Between the start of 2021 and the end of 2025 it was called out 107 times. Of those callouts, 45 were searches for a missing person.

That is 42% of everything the aircraft did in five years. The charity says many of the people it searched for were facing mental health challenges. Island news outlets reported the same share when the campaign launched in June 2026.

A missing-person search is not a health statistic. The count says nothing about how each search ended, and nothing about a diagnosis. It measures how often a volunteer crew took off to look for someone.

The "We See You" campaign is built on that count. It is a joint effort by the air search charity, Guernsey Mind and Mind Jersey. Its aim is that fewer of those searches are needed.

Sources: Channel Islands Air Search, Channel Eye 2026, Bailiwick Express 2026, Le Lacheur 2026, Brown 2026

Where people on the islands go for help

Jersey's healthcare system is not part of the NHS. Guernsey runs its own public service, Health and Social Care.

Both governments run a free talking therapy service. In Guernsey it is Healthy Minds, run by Health and Social Care, for adults with anxiety or depression. In Jersey it is Jersey Talking Therapies, for adults who live on the island.

Jersey also funds the Listening Lounge in St Helier, a free drop-in with no booking.

Every service above is public or charitable. Private professionals exist on both islands, and their number is small.

A reader who cannot find a professional with space locally can work with one online. Our guide to finding the right person covers how to choose.

Sources: Jersey: healthcare, Guernsey: Healthy Minds, Jersey Talking Therapies, LV Care: Listening Lounge

Support the charities doing this work

Three local charities run the "We See You" campaign, and Man Club brings men together on both islands. If you would like to help, you can support them directly.

Source: Man Club: meet and talk

What the numbers show

Guernsey's suicide rate peaked in 2019-21 and is lower now. Small numbers can explain the fall. Jersey's has held level.

On both islands, roughly seven in ten of the people who die this way are men.

The air search figure is a count of callouts, not a measure of illness. It comes from the charity's own records.

Small populations make every one of these numbers less certain than it looks. The exact values live in the reports, one click away. Our evidence page explains how we read a study.

This note describes evidence. It does not give advice about you or anyone you know.

The crisis pages for Guernsey and Jersey list free confidential helplines you can contact today. You do not need to be in danger to use them.