Suicide is the second leading cause of death for people in the United States from the ages of 9 to 56.
A suicide method is any means by which a person may choose to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a non-fatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, and brain damage.
An estimated 1 million people worldwide die by suicide every year. Globally, suicide ranks among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15 to 44 years. Attempted suicides are up to 20 times more frequent than completed ones.
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse are risk factors. Some suicides are impulsive acts due to stress, relationship problems, or harassment and bullying. Those who have previously attempted suicide are at a higher risk for future attempts. Effective suicide prevention efforts include limiting access to methods of suicide such as firearms, drugs, and poisons; treating mental disorders and substance abuse; careful media reporting about suicide; and improving economic conditions. Although crisis hotlines are common resources, their effectiveness has not been well studied.
Gender differences in suicide rates have been shown to be significant. There are different rates of suicides and suicidal behavior between males and females. While females more often have suicidal thoughts, males die by suicide more frequently. This discrepancy is also known as the gender paradox in suicide.
World Suicide Prevention Day (WSPD) is an awareness day always observed on 10 September every year, in order to provide worldwide commitment and action to prevent suicides, with various activities around the world since 2003. The International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) collaborates with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) to host World Suicide Prevention Day. In 2011 an estimated 40 countries held awareness events to mark the occasion. According to WHO's Mental Health Atlas released in 2014, no low-income country reported having a national suicide prevention strategy, while less than 10% of lower-middle income countries, and almost a third of upper-middle and high-income countries had.
Suicide is a major national public health issue in the United States. The country has one of the highest suicide rates among wealthy nations. In 2020, there were 45,799 recorded suicides, up from 42,773 in 2014, according to the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). On average, adjusted for age, the annual U.S. suicide rate increased 30% between 2000 and 2020, from 10.4 to 13.5 suicides per 100,000 people. In 2018, 14.2 people per 100,000 died by suicide, the highest rate recorded in more than 30 years. Due to the stigma surrounding suicide, it is suspected that suicide is generally underreported. In April 2016, the CDC released data showing that the suicide rate in the United States had hit a 30-year high, and later in June 2018, released further data showing that the rate has continued to increase and has increased in every U.S. state except Nevada since 1999. From 2000 to 2020, more than 800,000 people died by suicide in the United States, with males representing 78.7% of all suicides that happened between 2000 and 2020. In 2022, around 49,500 people died by suicide according to the CDC, which is the highest number ever recorded. Surging death rates from suicide, drug overdoses and alcoholism, what researchers refer to as "deaths of despair", are largely responsible for a consecutive three year decline of life expectancy in the U.S. This constitutes the first three-year drop in life expectancy in the U.S. since the years 1915–1918.
China's suicide rates were one of the highest in the world in the 1990s. However, by 2011, China had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world. According to the World Health Organization, the suicide rate in China was 9.7 per 100,000 as of 2016. As a comparison, the suicide rate in the U.S. in 2016 was 15.3. Generally speaking, China seems to have a lower suicide rate than neighboring Korea, Russia and Japan, and it is more common among women than men and more common in the Yangtze Basin than elsewhere.
About 800,000 people die by suicide worldwide every year. 164,033 Indians committed suicide in 2021 and the national suicide rate was 12, which is the highest rate of deaths from suicides since 1967, which is the earliest recorded year for this data. According to The World Health Organization, in India, suicide is an emerging and serious public health issue.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the age standardised death rate for suicide in Australia, for the year 2019, was 13.1 deaths per 100,000 people; preliminary estimates for years 2020 and 2021 are respectively 12.1 and 12.0. In 2020, 3,139 deaths were due to suicide ; in 2021, 3,144 deaths were due to suicide.
Suicide in Pakistan is a major public health issue.
Switzerland had a standardised suicide rate of 10.7 per 100,000 as of 2015. The actual (non-standardised) rate was 12.5 in 2014.
According to the latest available data, Statistics Canada estimates 4,157 suicides took place in Canada in 2017, making it the 9th leading cause of death, between Alzheimer's disease (8th) and cirrhosis and other liver diseases (10th). In 2009, there were an estimated 3,890 suicide deaths.
Suicide in Guyana is a serious social problem, as Guyana is ranked worst in suicides per capita worldwide among sovereign nations.
Suicide in Ukraine is a common cause of unnatural death and a serious social issue. In 2009, Ukraine ranked 13th in the world by its total suicide per 100,000 people. Suicide is Ukraine's most common type of injury death. Suicide is a leading cause of death in the Ukrainian army.
Suicide in Lithuania has become a significant social issue in the country due to its high rate. Since its peak in 1995, the suicide rate in Lithuania has been constantly decreasing, but as of 2021 it still remains the highest in the EU and the second highest in OECD.
Suicide in Greenland, an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, is a significant national social issue. Greenland has the highest suicide rate in the world: reports between 1985 and 2012 showed that an average of 83 people in 100,000 died by suicide yearly.
Suicide is a significant national social issue in the United Kingdom. In 2019 there were 5,691 registered deaths by suicide in England and Wales, equating to an average of 18 suicides per day. Suicide is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the country.
Suicide in Ireland has the 17th highest rate in Europe and the 4th highest for the males aged 15–24 years old which was a main contributing factor to the improvement of suicides in Ireland.
