TEN KEY FACTS ABOUT MEN AND BOYS’ WELLBEING (UK)

The House of Commons Library has a briefing packed with statistics about the wellbeing of men and boys as part of the House of Commons’ International Men’s Day debate in 2022.

 The use of comparisons with women are for context reasons, it is not a competition between men and women.

 (1) Prostate Cancer

 On average, c12,000 men  die from prostate cancer every year. This is 33 per day and one every 45 minutes.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in males in the UK, accounting for 14% of all cancer deaths in males in the UK.

(2) Mortality

 1 in 5 UK men do not live to 65.

 (3) Suicide

14 men die every day by suicide in the UK (three in every four) with a suicide rate increasing for the past four years. The suicide rate in England is the highest this century. Over 5,000 men every year die by suicide across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

 (4) University Entry

In September 2024: 34,950 fewer 18-year-old UK boys started university in September than girls of the same age –  118,800 men (43.6% of total) and 153,750 women (56.4%).

 (5) GCSEs

In 2022/23, 43% of boys receive Grade 5 or above GCSEs in English and Maths (47.2% girls). By 2019, boys have had worse exam results than girls for 30 years. 

 (6) Exclusions and NEETS

In 2022/23, 6,481 boys were excluded from school (69% of the total).

There are 493,000 young men (16-24) Not in Education, Employment and Training – 213,000 of which are unemployed.

 (7) Rough Sleeping

3,214 men were found to be sleeping rough in Autumn 2023  in England. Men make up at least 82% of rough sleepers. 

(8) Prison

There are over 90,000 men in prison – enough to fill Wembley Stadium. They make up 96% of the prison population.

 (9) Domestic Abuse

751,000 men and 1.4 million women aged 16 and over were victims of domestic abuse in 2022/23. Men make up one in three of all victims of domestic abuse. 13 men died at the hands of their partner or ex-partner compared to 56 women. (ONS 2022/23).

 (10) Sexual Violence/Abuse

275,000 men were estimated to have been victims of sexual assault in 2021/22* (798,000 women) . 1.3 million men in total have been a victim of sexual assault since they were 16. In addition, 7,000 men were raped or victims of attempted rape (132,000 women) in 2019/20.  57,000 men in total have been raped or been victims of rapes since they were 16.

*Oct 21 to Mar 22

Further information on a range of men and boys issues can be found on the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Issues Affecting Men and Boys and Men and Boys Coalition. These facts are useful to help supplement any themes that you adopt.