List of countries by suicide rate

This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: Outdated statistics. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. Last update: 2019 (July 2024)

The following are lists of countries by estimated suicide rates as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources.^{[note 1]}

In many countries, suicide rates are underreported due to social stigma, cultural or legal concerns.^[3] Thus, these figures cannot be used to compare real suicide rates, which are unknown in most countries.

The global total of suicide deaths decreased from an estimated 762,000 in 2000 to 717,000 in 2021, which is 9.1 deaths per 100,000 population.^[4] 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".^{[5][6][7][8][9]}

In 2021, the global rate of suicide deaths for men was 12.3 per 100,000, more than double the rate for women, which stood at 5.9 per 100,000 population. However, the sex disparity was uneven across regions, with a male-to-female ratio ranging from as low as 1.4 in the South-East Asia Region to nearly 4.0 in the Region of the Americas.^[10]

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.^[5]

— 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.^[11] Suicide prevention and intervention is an important topic for all peoples, according to the WHO.^[12]

Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).