Why have suicide levels risen among young people and what can be done to tackle this?

Every year, organisations and communities around the world come together on World Suicide Prevention Day to raise awareness of how we can create a world where fewer people reach the point where they feel suicide is their only option.  Ben Windsor-Shellard from ONS and Charlotte Simms from Samaritans reflect on the latest suicide figures for young people.

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What’s in a name? There’s more than you might think to the ONS baby names list

Baby smiling at camera

The annual release of baby names by the ONS may not be the most significant event in the statistical calendar. Yet it remains one of the most popular pages on the ONS website and a firm favourite with the news media. Here Nick Stripe argues in defence of baby names lists. Far from being inconsequential, he argues, the annual changes hint reliably at the social and cultural changes underway in our population.

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Providing the best picture of international migration

The latest ONS figures show that migration continues to add to the UK population but there are different trends for EU and non-EU migrants. EU migration has been falling since 2016, while non-EU migration has now stabilised following gradual increases since 2013. Here Jay Lindop puts the latest figures into the context of on-going work to better understand the complexities around international migration.

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Understanding the contribution of migrants to the UK’s tourism and health sectors

Fresh analysis by the Office for National Statistics shows that these two key sectors employ around three-quarters of a million non-British workers, with the majority of those coming from the European Union.  Providing a better understanding of the migrant workforce is one of the ways we’re mobilising the power of data to help Britain make better decisions.  Here Jay Lindop discusses this latest work and the ongoing transformation of UK population and migration statistics. 

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Missing capitals – How ONS measures the value of our environment

Traditional methods of measuring the economy tend to exclude the value of some of our most important assets. At the Office for National Statistics we have been working to develop measures of these so-called ‘missing capitals’. Top of that list is the thing that sustains all activity on our planet; the natural environment. Dr Adam Dutton explains how the ONS is part of a growing international movement that is seeking to find the economic value of our “Natural Capital”.

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