Background. Socio-cultural factors impact on the extent of suicidal ideation and attempted suicide but the relative importance of these factors among people from different ethnic groups in Britain has not been explored. We examined the prevalence of suicidal ideation, the incidence of attempted suicide, and the extent of service utilization following attempted suicide among representative samples of White, Irish, Black Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani individuals living in England.

Method. We conducted a secondary analysis of data from the EMPIRIC study, a cross-sectional survey of 4281 adults aged 16–74 years, living in private households in England.

Results. Lifetime suicidal ideation was generally lower in ethnic minority groups but higher among those born in the UK than those who migrated to England as adults. Risk factors for suicidal ideation have much in common across different ethnic groups; current symptoms of mental distress being the most important. White British and Irish respondents were twice as likely to receive medical attention following attempted suicide than those from other ethnic groups.

Conclusions. Services need to adapt in order to ensure that people from ethnic minorities receive appropriate psychological and medical care following attempted suicide.