A comparison of suicide ascertainment procedures in Denmark, a country with a higher suicide rate than the international average, as opposed to England and Wales where the rate is lower than the average, showed marked differences. "In Denmark the official diagnosis of suicide is given by a doctor acting in private, using a balance of probabilities as his criteria," whereas in England and Wales the verdict on presumed unnatural death is given by the coroner (in effect a judge) in public, and a verdict of suicide requires proof of suicidal intention. Further, a study of English coroners and their Danish counterparts, in which each examined samples of the others' case records on a "blind basis," found that "Danes consistently report more suicides than the English coroners on the same material." A second study of deaths by poisoning in districts in England and Wales showed "considerable variation" from one district to another in those cases considered accidental, open, or suicide.