List of countries by suicide rate

Map of the suicide rate (age-standardized, per 100,000 population) in the world as of 2019.
  •  > 30
  •  20–30
  •  15–20
  •  10–15
  •  5–10
  •  0–5
  •  Data unavailable

The following are lists of countries by estimated suicide rates as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources.

In many countries, suicide rates are underreported due to social stigma, cultural or legal concerns. Thus, these figures cannot be used to compare real suicide rates, which are unknown in most countries.

As of 2016, there was an estimated global suicide rate of 10.5 per 100,000 population down from 11.6 in 2008. In high-income modernized countries male and female rates of suicidal behaviors differ much compared to those in the rest of the world: while women are reportedly more prone to suicidal thoughts, rates of suicide are higher among men, which has been described as a "silent epidemic".

A study in 2019 found that between 1990 and 2016 global age-standardized suicide rates fell by a third; the rates in 2016 were about 16 deaths per 100,000 men and 7 deaths per 100,000 women. Women experienced a greater decrease compared with men over the study period.

In much of the world, suicide is stigmatized and condemned for religious or cultural reasons. In some countries, suicidal behavior is a criminal offence punishable by law. Suicide is therefore often a secretive act surrounded by taboo, and may be unrecognized, misclassified or deliberately hidden in official records of death.

— World Health Organization (2002)

As such, suicide rates may be higher than measured, with men more at risk of dying by suicide than women across nearly all cultures and backgrounds. Suicide prevention and intervention is an important topic for all peoples, according to the WHO.

Countries and territories by suicide rate

  • Note: links for each location go to the relevant death by suicide page, when available.
Suicide rates by gender and country (age-standardized, per 100,000 population, World Health Organization, 2019)
Country 2019 2000 %
change
All Female Male M/F
World 9.0 5.4 12.6 2.3 14.0 -0.36
 Lesotho 87.5 34.6 146.9 4.3 42.6 1.05
 Guyana 40.9 17.0 65.0 3.8 35.8 0.14
 Eswatini 40.5 6.4 78.7 12.3 40.6 0.00
 Kiribati 30.6 9.5 53.6 5.7 35.6 -0.14
 Micronesia 29.0 13.2 44.3 3.4 28.0 0.04
 Suriname 25.9 11.8 41.3 3.5 25.0 0.04
 Zimbabwe 23.6 13.5 37.8 2.8 20.0 0.18
 South Africa 23.5 9.8 37.9 3.9 26.6 -0.12
 Mozambique 23.2 8.9 42.6 4.8 20.9 0.11
 Central African Republic 23.0 9.3 39.6 4.3 32.5 -0.29
 Russia 21.6 7.2 38.2 5.3 48.9 -0.56
 South Korea 21.2 13.4 29.9 2.2 13.9 0.52
 Vanuatu 21.0 9.0 33.1 3.7 23.2 -0.10
 Botswana 20.2 7.8 35.5 4.6 46.3 -0.56
 Lithuania 20.2 6.2 36.1 5.8 45.8 -0.56
 Uruguay 18.8 7.7 31.1 4.1 14.5 0.30
 Kazakhstan 18.1 6.9 30.9 4.5 39.4 -0.54
 Mongolia 18.0 5.6 31.1 5.5 23.6 -0.24
 Ukraine 17.7 4.7 32.7 7.0 33.5 -0.47
 Solomon Islands 17.4 2.4 32.2 13.4 17.4 0.00
 Eritrea 17.3 8.3 27.2 3.3 23.4 -0.26
 Belarus 16.5 5.3 30.1 5.7 37.3 -0.56
 Montenegro 16.2 7.9 25.4 3.2 18.9 -0.14
 Latvia 16.1 4.6 29.0 6.4 29.6 -0.46
 Cameroon 15.9 7.6 25.2 3.3 19.1 -0.17
 Ivory Coast 15.7 5.0 25.7 5.1 24.0 -0.35
 Cape Verde 15.2 5.1 27.4 5.4 18.2 -0.16
 Togo 14.8 6.5 24.0 3.7 17.3 -0.14
 Somalia 14.7 7.1 22.8 3.2 16.8 -0.13
 Samoa 14.6 7.8 20.9 2.7 16.3 -0.10
 United States 14.5 6.8 22.4 3.3 10.0 0.45
 Zambia 14.4 5.3 25.7 4.9 24.0 -0.40
 Burkina Faso 14.4 6.5 24.5 3.8 16.9 -0.15
 Slovenia 14.0 5.5 22.7 4.1 25.6 -0.46
 Belgium 13.9 8.4 19.6 2.3 18.3 -0.24
 Namibia 13.5 4.4 24.9 5.7 27.5 -0.51
 Equatorial Guinea 13.5 8.8 18.5 2.1 19.4 -0.30
 Finland 13.4 6.8 20.1 3.0 21.7 -0.38
 Chad 13.2 6.9 20.2 2.9 15.7 -0.16
 Gabon 13.1 3.8 23.3 6.1 19.4 -0.32
 India 12.9 11.1 14.7 1.3 19.1 -0.32
 Sri Lanka 12.9 6.1 20.9 3.4 27.4 -0.53
 Benin 12.7 6.1 20.3 3.3 14.7 -0.14
 Angola 12.6 4.7 21.7 4.6 17.6 -0.28
 DR Congo 12.4 5.0 20.7 4.1 14.5 -0.14
 Guinea-Bissau 12.4 6.7 19.8 3.0 17.5 -0.29
 Sweden 12.4 7.7 16.9 2.2 12.2 0.01
 Guinea 12.3 8.0 18.4 2.3 9.7 0.27
 Japan 12.2 6.9 17.5 2.5 18.1 -0.32
 Moldova 12.2 3.3 22.1 6.7 16.3 -0.25
 Burundi 12.1 6.4 18.9 3.0 23.4 -0.48
 Estonia 12.0 4.5 20.2 4.5 25.0 -0.52
 Djibouti 11.9 7.6 16.3 2.2 12.1 -0.01
 Hungary 11.8 5.5 19.1 3.5 26.6 -0.56
 Congo 11.6 6.1 18.3 3.0 24.7 -0.53
 Sierra Leone 11.3 8.2 14.8 1.8 10.1 0.11
 Australia 11.3 5.6 17.0 3.0 11.8 -0.05
 Haiti 11.2 8.0 14.9 1.9 12.7 -0.12
 Iceland 11.2 3.5 18.7 5.4 12.7 -0.12
 Kenya 11.0 5.3 18.1 3.4 15.8 -0.30
 Croatia 11.0 5.1 17.7 3.5 16.3 -0.32
 Senegal 11.0 5.2 18.5 3.6 14.4 -0.24
 Malawi 10.6 3.3 20.0 6.1 19.2 -0.45
 Ghana 10.5 1.8 20.0 11.2 9.8 0.08
 Uganda 10.4 3.7 19.4 5.2 21.7 -0.52
 Austria 10.4 4.6 16.6 3.6 15.8 -0.34
 Canada 10.3 5.4 15.3 2.9 10.7 -0.03
 New Zealand 10.3 5.4 15.4 2.9 12.4 -0.17
 Cuba 10.2 4.1 16.7 4.1 15.6 -0.35
 Niger 10.1 6.4 14.1 2.2 9.5 0.07
 Norway 9.9 6.3 13.4 2.1 13.0 -0.24
 Switzerland 9.8 5.7 14.2 2.5 15.9 -0.38
 Nepal 9.8 2.9 18.6 6.3 10.9 -0.10
 Pakistan 9.8 4.8 14.6 3.1 11.1 -0.12
 France 9.7 4.5 15.2 3.3 15.8 -0.39
 Singapore 9.7 6.4 12.7 2.0 11.4 -0.16
 Gambia 9.6 6.2 13.3 2.1 11.1 -0.13
 Fiji 9.5 6.0 13.1 2.2 11.7 -0.19
 Czech Republic 9.5 3.8 15.4 4.1 13.4 -0.29
 Ethiopia 9.5 5.2 14.2 2.7 18.4 -0.49
 Rwanda 9.5 5.0 14.8 2.9 25.6 -0.63
 Slovakia 9.3 2.6 16.7 6.5 12.6 -0.26
 Poland 9.3 2.4 16.5 6.8 15.3 -0.39
 Netherlands 9.3 6.1 12.5 2.1 8.1 0.15
 Madagascar 9.2 5.4 13.3 2.5 10.8 -0.15
 Ireland 8.9 3.6 14.3 4.0 12.1 -0.26
 Mauritius 8.8 2.5 15.0 5.9 11.5 -0.24
 Luxembourg 8.6 5.4 11.8 2.2 13.4 -0.36
 Comoros 8.5 5.8 11.3 2.0 10.9 -0.22
 Kyrgyzstan 8.3 3.5 13.5 3.8 17.6 -0.53
 Trinidad and Tobago 8.3 3.7 13.1 3.6 16.2 -0.49
 Uzbekistan 8.3 4.9 11.8 2.4 12.0 -0.31
 Germany 8.3 3.9 12.8 3.3 11.2 -0.26
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 8.3 3.4 13.5 4.0 8.1 0.01
 North Korea 8.2 6.3 10.6 1.7 10.3 -0.20
 Tanzania 8.2 3.7 13.5 3.6 15.6 -0.48
 Argentina 8.1 3.3 13.5 4.1 9.2 -0.12
 Chile 8.0 3.0 13.4 4.5 10.5 -0.24
 Mali 8.0 5.7 10.5 1.8 8.8 -0.09
 Thailand 8.0 2.3 13.9 6.0 11.6 -0.31
 Serbia 7.9 3.9 12.2 3.1 18.9 -0.58
 Seychelles 7.7 1.3 14.0 10.5 9.8 -0.21
 Ecuador 7.7 3.6 11.9 3.3 6.8 0.12
 Belize 7.7 1.8 13.6 7.5 10.0 -0.24
 Georgia 7.7 2.2 14.0 6.4 6.6 0.16
 Denmark 7.6 4.2 11.1 2.6 12.5 -0.39
 Costa Rica 7.6 1.9 13.3 6.9 6.9 0.11
 Liberia 7.4 5.5 9.4 1.7 8.8 -0.16
 Romania 7.3 2.4 12.6 5.3 11.3 -0.35
 Morocco 7.3 4.7 10.1 2.1 10.8 -0.33
 Portugal 7.2 3.5 11.6 3.4 5.5 0.32
 Vietnam 7.2 4.2 10.6 2.5 7.2 0.01
 Bahrain 7.2 2.3 9.9 4.3 7.0 0.02
 North Macedonia 7.2 3.5 11.0 3.1 8.7 -0.17
 Yemen 7.1 5.3 9.0 1.7 8.5 -0.17
 United Kingdom 6.9 3.4 10.4 3.1 7.7 -0.11
 Nigeria 6.9 3.8 10.1 2.7 9.2 -0.25
 Saint Lucia 6.9 1.5 12.5 8.5 8.1 -0.15
 Bolivia 6.8 4.2 9.6 2.3 8.4 -0.19
 South Sudan 6.7 3.4 10.4 3.1 7.9 -0.15
 China 6.7 4.8 8.6 1.8 14.9 -0.55
 Bulgaria 6.5 2.9 10.6 3.7 14.0 -0.54
 Brazil 6.4 2.8 10.3 3.7 4.5 0.43
 Guatemala 6.2 2.5 10.3 4.1 13.5 -0.54
 Paraguay 6.2 3.3 9.0 2.8 3.6 0.69
 El Salvador 6.1 2.1 11.1 5.4 6.7 -0.09
 Turkmenistan 6.1 2.9 9.4 3.2 13.8 -0.56
 Laos 6.0 3.5 8.6 2.5 8.7 -0.31
 Afghanistan 6.0 5.7 6.2 1.1 7.7 -0.23
 Malaysia 5.8 2.4 9.0 3.8 6.1 -0.05
 Cambodia 5.5 3.1 8.4 2.8 6.8 -0.20
 Mauritania 5.5 3.9 7.4 1.9 6.4 -0.14
 Saudi Arabia 5.4 1.9 7.8 4.1 3.8 0.41
 Malta 5.3 2.3 8.4 3.7 6.0 -0.11
 Tajikistan 5.3 3.4 7.4 2.2 5.1 0.05
 Mexico 5.4 2.2 8.7 4.0 3.9 0.37
 Spain 5.3 2.8 7.9 2.8 6.6 -0.20
 United Arab Emirates 5.2 2.6 6.3 2.4 8.0 -0.35
 Israel 5.2 2.1 8.3 3.9 6.8 -0.24
 Iran 5.1 2.8 7.5 2.7 8.0 -0.36
 Dominican Republic 5.1 1.9 8.5 4.6 4.9 0.04
 Bhutan 5.1 3.1 6.8 2.2 6.9 -0.27
 Sudan 4.8 3.3 6.3 1.9 5.6 -0.14
 Iraq 4.7 2.4 7.3 3.0 5.3 -0.10
 Nicaragua 4.7 1.9 7.8 4.1 6.3 -0.26
 Qatar 4.7 1.7 5.7 3.4 7.6 -0.39
 East Timor 4.5 2.4 6.7 2.8 4.9 -0.07
 Libya 4.5 2.9 6.1 2.1 5.3 -0.15
 Oman 4.5 1.1 6.4 5.7 6.7 -0.33
 Tonga 4.4 2.9 5.9 2.0 5.1 -0.15
 Italy 4.3 2.1 6.7 3.2 5.5 -0.22
 Azerbaijan 4.0 1.5 6.6 4.5 3.4 0.16
 Bangladesh 3.9 1.7 6.0 3.6 6.9 -0.44
 Colombia 3.7 1.7 6.0 3.5 5.3 -0.29
 Albania 3.7 2.2 5.3 2.4 5.2 -0.29
 Greece 3.6 1.5 5.9 4.1 2.9 0.27
 Papua New Guinea 3.6 1.9 5.2 2.7 2.8 0.26
 Egypt 3.4 2.2 4.7 2.1 3.6 -0.06
 Bahamas 3.4 1.2 5.8 4.7 2.5 0.33
 Cyprus 3.2 1.1 5.3 5.0 1.9 0.66
 Tunisia 3.2 1.8 4.6 2.5 3.9 -0.18
 Myanmar 3.0 1.1 5.1 4.7 5.1 -0.42
 Panama 2.9 1.0 4.8 4.9 5.9 -0.52
 Lebanon 2.8 1.7 3.9 2.3 3.0 -0.08
 Maldives 2.8 0.9 4.1 4.8 5.3 -0.48
 Peru 2.7 1.4 4.1 3.0 3.4 -0.20
 Armenia 2.7 1.0 4.9 4.8 3.3 -0.19
 Kuwait 2.7 0.7 3.8 5.2 3.1 -0.14
 Algeria 2.6 1.9 3.3 1.7 4.7 -0.44
 Honduras 2.6 1.0 4.4 4.5 3.0 -0.14
 Indonesia 2.6 1.2 4.0 3.5 3.8 -0.33
 Brunei 2.5 0.8 4.2 5.4 1.7 0.48
 Philippines 2.5 1.3 3.9 2.9 2.3 0.12
 Turkey 2.3 1.2 3.6 3.0 4.2 -0.44
 Jamaica 2.3 1.0 3.6 3.6 2.1 0.11
 São Tomé and Príncipe 2.2 1.2 3.3 2.9 2.2 -0.02
 Syria 2.1 0.8 3.5 4.7 2.0 0.05
 Venezuela 2.1 0.7 3.7 5.3 6.4 -0.67
 Jordan 2.0 0.9 3.0 3.3 3.5 -0.43
 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 1.0 0.7 1.3 2.0 6.5 -0.84
 Grenada 0.6 0.7 0.5 0.7 2.1 -0.70
 Antigua and Barbuda 0.3 0.6 0.0 0.0 2.0 -0.84
 Barbados 0.3 0.2 0.5 3.1 2.6 -0.88

Analysis

Deaths per million persons from self-inflicted injuries in 2012. Countries by income group.
Suicide rates by income group in 2012 (per 100,000 people)
Income group (% of global pop) Suicides, 2012
(in thousands)
Global % Rate
(2012)
Male:Female
(2012)
High-income countries (18.3%) 197 24.5% 12.7 3.5 : 1
Upper-middle-income countries (34.3%) 192 23.8% 7.5 1.3 : 1
Lower-middle-income countries (35.4%) 333 41.4% 14.1 1.7 : 1
Low-income countries (12.0%) 82 10.2% 13.4 1.7 : 1
Global  (100.0%) 804 100.0% 11.4 1.9 : 1

Male and female suicide rates are out of total male population and total female population, respectively (i.e. total number of male suicides divided by total male population). Age-standardized rates account for the influence that different population age distributions might have on the analysis of crude death rates, statistically addressing the prevailing trends by age-groups and populations' structures, to enhance long term cross-national comparability: based on age-groups' deviation from standardized population structures, rates are rounded up or down (age-adjustment). Basically, the presence of younger individuals in any given age structure carries more weight: if the rate is rounded up that means the median age is lower than average for that region (or country), and vice versa when rounded down.

Most countries listed above report a higher male suicide rate, as worldwide there are about 3 male suicides out of 4, or a factor of 3:1 (for example, in the United States was 3.36 in 2015, and 3.53 in 2016).

Though age-standardization is common statistical process to categorize mortality data for comparing purposes this approach by WHO is based on estimates which take into account issues such as under-reporting, resulting in rates differing from the official national statistics prepared and endorsed by individual countries (and revisions are also performed periodically). Also, age-adjusted rates are mortality rates that would have existed if all populations under study had the same age distribution as a "standard" population. Plain, crude estimated rates are available at here and here. Countries with a population less than 100 000 are excluded.

Countries with large internal discrepancies are complicated to assess. Canada, a country with a comparatively low suicide rate overall at 10.3 incidents per 100,000 people, exhibits one such discrepancy. When comparing the suicide rate of Indigenous peoples in Canada, the rate of suicide increases to 24.3 incidents per 100,000 people: a rate among the ten highest in the world. There are numerous differences in living standards and income that contribute to this phenomenon, classed as an epidemic in Canada.

List by other sources and years (1985–2019)

Suicide rate per 100,000 people by country (1978–2009)

In this list various sources from various years are included, mixing plain crude rates with age-adjusted rates and estimated rates, so cross-national comparability is somewhat skewed.

* indicates "Suicide in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" or "Mental Health in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links.

  1. ^ The male-female ratio shown below is based on the age-standardized rates: as compared to WHO world standard population, women's median age and life expectancy might be greater than that of men's for that country when rounded up, and vice versa when rounded down.
  2. ^ Nevertheless, jumping from a high building as well as drowning were common methods of suicide in Taiwan, indicating the potential risks of type I and type II errors and misuse of statistics within the government's report. Hence, if halves of the death rates of the drowning and fall that were shown in government's report were extracted and added into the self-inflicted deaths (intentional injury death of self), it yields 0.0201% which is thought better reflecting the real case.
  3. ^ Furthermore, jumping from a high building as well as drowning were common methods of suicide in Taiwan.

See also

Explanatory notes

  1. ^ The first global estimates on suicide mortality began in the early 1980s, as a single World Bank-commissioned study on general mortality data compiled by the WHO as the first work of its kind on the global burden of disease (GBD). In the following years, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation acted as the coordinating center for the study then resulted in the collaboration between several researchers and institutions from many countries.
  2. ^ In government's annual release, there were 3637 people per one hundred thousands of people in 2018 died of contacting poison, accidental fall, exposure to fire or smoke, accidental drowning including sinking beneath water to death in addition to the suicidal death that was equal to 3865 people per 100,000 people.
  3. ^ Recently released figures by official Belgian authorities suggest a considerably higher rate of 17.0 persons (total) per 100,000 people per annum in 2009 (5,712 cases in a population of 10,749,000 (=10,666,866 as of 1 January 2008 increasing by 0,77% per annum.) as of 1 January 2009)."Toenemend aantal zelfdodingen in Belgie" (in Dutch). 2011. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012.
  4. ^ The number of death in Belgium in 2008 due to suicide "zichzelf schade toebrengen" was reported at 2000 out of a total of 103.760 death. These death comprise 1453 men and 547 women. This puts the suicide rate at about 19 per 100.000. See statbel: http://statbel.fgov.be/nl/binaries/NL%20-%20Tableau%201%2E3_T_2008_tcm325-168456.pdf Archived 28 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ In government's annual release, there were 3637 people per one hundred thousands people in 2018 died of contacting poison, accidental fall, exposure to fire or smoke, accidental drowning, or sinking beneath water that were excluded from the statistical suicidal death figure equal to 3865 people per 100,000 people.
  • The updated figure of suicide rates in Belgium for 2011 is 2,084 with a total population of 10,933,607, equivalent to 18.96 per 100,000 inhabitants (source: Het Nieuwsblad, 10 April 2014).
  • Taiwan is not a member of the WHO. The Taiwanese government adopted the WHO standard in 2007. According to the Taiwanese government's self-released data, the figure is standardized based upon the population within Taiwan.

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