Claim 4ab9cf7fChecked 21 Jul 2026
TrueOn the truth scale
“Every year, about 160 university students commit suicide.”
—Warinder JussLabourLab / Wolverhampton West·Engagements·03 Jun 2026Factual · quantitative empirical
Reasoning & Evidence21 Jul 2026
The claim that "about 160 university students commit suicide" each year is directly supported by official UK government statistics. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published experimental statistics on suicide among higher education (HE) students in England and Wales, covering August 2016 to July 2023. They identified 1,108 suicides among HE students over that seven-year period, yielding an average of approximately 160 per year. The ONS's own head of mortality statistics, David Mais, was quoted as saying the figures show "160 higher education students taking this step each year."
Two minor qualifications: the figures cover England and Wales only (the ONS did not have access to deaths registered in Scotland or Northern Ireland), and 160 is a seven-year average rather than a constant annual count (individual years fluctuated, with the most recent year — academic year ending 2023 — recording 155). However, the MP's phrasing "about 160" accurately reflects the official average figure.
Sources: Office for National Statistics (ONS), "Estimating suicide among higher education students, England and Wales: Experimental Statistics, August 2016 to July 2023" — https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/august2016tojuly2023 ; ONS/GovDelivery bulletin — https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/UKONS/bulletins/3f1bc17 ; Office for Students, "Suicide prevention" — https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/for-providers/equality-of-opportunity/effective-practice/suicide-prevention/
From speech
Q14. Every year, about 160 university students commit suicide. That is more than three every week, yet there is no established duty of care on universities to protect the health, safety and welfare of their students. It is not about creating excessive burdens on universities, but about requiring them to take reasonable steps to prevent injury or harm to their students when the risk is reasonably foreseeable. Will the Prime Minister meet me to discuss the issue so we can do all we can to prevent our young people from dying at university through suicide?
Sources opened
| [1] | ons.gov.uk |
| [2] | independent.co.uk |
| [3] | content.govdelivery.com |
| [4] | officeforstudents.org.uk |
| [5] | hepi.ac.uk |
| [6] | gov.uk |
| [7] | assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |
| [8] | ons.gov.uk |
| [9] | gov.uk |