Suicide in China

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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.^[1][2] According to the World Health Organization, the suicide rate in China was 9.7 per 100,000 population^{[3][obsolete source]} as of 2016; Among men, the rate was 9.1 per 100,000 population. As a comparison, the suicide rate in the U.S. in 2016 was 15.3.^[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.^{[4][citation needed]}

Aside from the global suicide rate surge during the economic crisis of 2008, China's suicide rates have been declining since the late 20th century. In the 1990s China was among the countries with the highest suicide rates in the world (above 20 per 100,000), but by the global economic crisis they kept dropping as significantly (as they were by the end of 1990s) with the main force having been migration from rural to urban areas.^[5] By 2011, China had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world.^[1][6] Between 1990 and 2016, suicide rates in China fell by 64%, making China the number 1 country in the world in suicide reduction.^[7][8]