Self-harm statistics
How many people self-harm?
It's almost impossible to say how many young people are self-harming. This is because very few teenagers tell anyone what's going on, so it's incredibly difficult to keep records or have an accurate idea of scale. It is thought that around 13% of young people may try to hurt themselves on purpose at some point between the ages of 11 and 16, but the actual figure could be much higher.
In 2014, figures were published suggesting a 70% increase in 10-14 year olds attending A&E for self-harm related reasons over the preceding 2 years.
Girls are thought to be more likely to self-harm than boys, but this could be because boys are more likely to engage in behaviours such as punching a wall, which isn't always recognised as self-harm or doesn’t come to the attention of hospitals. In reality self-harm doesn't happen to one type of person, it can't be predicted and scarily, we don't really know how many people are going through it. This is all really vague, but you can take one thing away from it - you are not alone, whether you are harming or seeing someone you love or work with go though it. It's more common than you think.
*www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg16/evidence/cg16-selfharm-full-guideline-2