ONS

Looking for explanations of changes in suicide rates

Following several years of decline, the number of suicides registered in England and Wales began to increase in 2018. Whenever a change in suicide rates occur, the reasons are complex and will rarely be because of one factor alone. Here, Ben Windsor-Shellard explains some of the possible explanations.   

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Developing the Health Index for England

In 2018, Dame Sally Davies, then Chief Medical Officer, called for an official index on England’s health. Her aim was to ensure that “health is recognised and treated as one of our nation’s primary assets…alongside GDP and the Measuring National Well-being programme.” As consultation on the proposed index gets under way, Greg Ceely explains the development work ONS has undertaken so far and what the provisional findings show.

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Giving the best picture of international migration in times of a pandemic

Picture of an empty Heathrow airport

A significant economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the disruption to worldwide travel. The ONS has now produced its initial report on what happened to migration and mobility patterns in the first six months of the pandemic.  Here Rebecca Briggs explains the findings and updates on our progress towards a new and fundamentally different approach to measuring UK migration.    

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How the ONS crime figures help us to better understand the risks to children

A young boy is sitting on a swing set and looking at a shadow figure of a man or bully at a playground

In 2018 the Children’s Commissioner’s Office in England highlighted the need for better data on the numbers of children living in households where adult domestic abuse, mental ill-health or substance misuse may be present. Sophie Sanders explains how the Office for National Statistics has developed its first analysis to help better understand how the presence of these issues could impact on childhood vulnerability.

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