Facts and Statistics

[ Definitions ] [ Interpreting statistics ] [ Myths ]

In March 2010, Mindframe released a two-page document for the mental health and suicide prevention sectors to explain changes to the Causes of Death Data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and to highlight some key messages when engaging with the media. Click here for the two-page summary.

The Mindframe project team also released advice to stakeholders about changes to the ABS data.  Click here for a summary of the advice.  For more information about the data visit www.abs.gov.au

Suicide Facts And Statistics

This section contains a brief overview of facts and statistics about suicide in Australia. The main source of Australian data on suicides is the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). They release new data on an annual basis. Unless otherwise stated, the statistics provided in this document are from the ABS publication, Causes of Death, Australia, Suicides 2008 (ABS Cat. No. 3303.0) ¹.

Definition of Terms

Terms that are commonly used when discussing suicide include:

Suicide – death as a result of self-inflicted harm where the intention was to die.

Attempted suicide – self-inflicted harm where death does not occur but the intention of the person was to die.

Self-harm – self-inflicted harm where death does not occur and the intention may or may not have been to die.

Suicidal behaviour – acts such as suicide and attempted suicide.

Suicidal ideation/thoughts – thoughts about, or plans for, taking one’s own life that may or may not lead to a suicide attempt.

A Note on Interpreting Suicide Facts and Statistics

Suicide statistics are usually reported as either the total number of persons who died by suicide or as an age-standardised suicide rate, such as 7 per 100 000 people. This means that for every 100 000 people in a population or sub-group, seven died by suicide in a given time period (usually a year). Suicide statistics may also be reported as a percentage of deaths from all causes, such as 2% of all deaths in a population were due to suicide. This means that for every 100 deaths in a population in a given time period, two were due to suicide.

Caution should be exercised when reporting and interpreting suicide information. The reliability of suicide statistics are affected by a number of factors including under-reporting, differences in reporting methods across states and territories, and the length of time it takes for Coroners to process deaths that are reported as potential suicides.

How many people die by suicide in Australia? 

• Suicide is a prominent public health concern in Australia. Over the past decade, about 2200 people have died by suicide each year².  Click here for more information on hospitalised self-harm in Australia. (PDF ~184kb)
• There were 2191 deaths from suicide registered in 2008, which is slightly more than the 2054 deaths from suicide recorded in 2007.
• Deaths from suicide represented 1.5% of all deaths registered in 2008.

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Is the problem getting worse?

• Suicide rates for both males and females have generally decreased since the mid-90s with the overall suicide rate decreasing by 23% between 1999 and 2008. 
• Suicide rates for males peaked in 1997 at 23.6 per 100,000 but have steadily decreased since then and stood at 16.0 per 100 000 in 2008.
• Female rates reached a high of 6.2 per 100 000 in 1997. Rates declined after that and was 4.5 per 100 000 in 2008.

Do rates vary between states?

• Combining suicide data over a 5-year period provides a more reliable picture of differences across the states and territories due to the relatively small number of suicides in some states and territories in any one year.
• In recent years (2004-2008) Tasmania and the Northern Territory have had the highest rates of suicide, followed by South Australia. In contrast, New South Wales and Victoria had the lowest rates of suicide and the Australian Capital Territory and Queensland had fluctuating rates.

Are the rates different for males and females?

• Suicide rates for males are higher than those for females and have been higher since at least the 1920’s³; however, more women than men attempt suicide⁴.
• The ratio of male to female suicides rose from 2:1 in the 1960s to over 4:1 in the mid 1990s.  In recent years, the suicide rate for males has reduced slightly to 3 and a half that of femailes in 2008, and is consistent across most age groups.
• Between 1999 and 2008, the suicide rate fell by 23%, with this rate of change different for males (25%) and females (12%).

Do rates vary across age groups?

• From 1990 to 1997, 20 to 24 year old men were consistently the most likely of all age groups to die by suicide, with rates reaching 42.8 per 100 000 in 1997.  However, between 1998 and 2005 the highest rates have been observed for males aged in the 25-44 year age groups.  In 2008 the highest rate was observed in men aged between 40-44 (although the rates are inflated by the small population) followed by the over 85 years age group.
• From 1990 onwards, there has not been any one age group of females that has consistently had a higher rate of suicide than other age groups. 

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Is there a youth suicide epidemic?

• The number of suicides among males aged 15 to 19 years has fallen considerably (more than halved) over recent years. In 1997, 121 males in this age group died by suicide (18.5 per 100 000). In 2008 71 males aged 15 to 19 died by suicide (9.4 per 100 000). This was less than 2007 (11.0 per 100,000) but slightly more than 2006 (8.8 per 100 000 or 64 deaths), but less than the decade to 2003.
• While the level of suicides among young females has been consistently lower than their male counterparts, the number of suicides observed for females aged 15 to 19 years in 2008 (23 suicides or 3.2 per 100 000) was substantially less than in 1997 (33 suicides or 5.3 per 100 000). Further, the number of suicides observed for these females decreased somewhat between 2004 (32 suicides or 4.8 per 100 000) and 2005 (24 suicides or 3.6 per 100 000).
• Suicide in children under the age of 15 years is a rare event in Australia.

Are the patterns the same for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians?

• Accurate suicide statistics and population estimates are difficult to obtain for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Thus data on suicide levels and rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are likely to be, at best, minimum figures and the information must be interpreted cautiously.
• Due to both the relatively small numbers and low coverage in some areas of Australia, the ABS only publishes data on suicide deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. In 2008, there were 103 deaths by suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the five states and territories considered, compared with 89 suicide deaths in 2007⁸.
• The percentage of all deaths attributable to suicide is much higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (4.2% in 2007) than Non-Indigenous Australians (1.5%) in the specified states and territories.
• Suicide is more concentrated in the earlier adult years for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians than for the general Australian population⁹ with 2003 data indicating the highest rates for both males and females being in the 15 to 24 year age group¹⁰.
• As for other Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males are more likely to die by suicide than are Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander females. Using combined data for 1998 to 2002, 6.7% of all males deaths were due to suicide compared with 1.9% of all deaths for females.
• Recent NT data shows significant increase in male Indigenous deaths since 1997¹¹.

Do rates vary among people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds?

• Australia is home to people from a wide diversity of cultures. Suicide rates, and risk factors associated with suicide, differ between cultures.
• One quarter of suicides in Australia occur among people who have migrated to Australia, with 60% of these being people who have come from non-English speaking countries. However, rates vary according to country of origin, gender and age¹².
• Rates are generally higher among people born in English-speaking countries, and those from western, northern and eastern Europe, and lower among people from southern Europe, the Middle East and Asia¹³.
• Overall, males born outside of Australia have a lower suicide rate than Australian-born males, while the rate is higher for females born overseas than for Australian-born females. The rate is also higher for people of both genders aged over 65¹⁴.

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Are rates higher in rural and remote Australia?

• There is some evidence that suicide rates in rural and remote areas are significantly greater than in urban populations.  This may be especially true among young men in remote regions¹⁵.
• Possible factors contributing to higher rates in these areas include isolation, rural poverty, increased risk-taking behaviour and access to lethal means. It has also been suggested that a culture of self-reliance, which does not encourage help-seeking behaviour, may be one of the most important contributing factors to youth suicide in rural areas¹⁶.

Are rates higher in people who have mental illness?

• Many people who die by suicide or make a suicide attempt have a history of mental illness or are experiencing symptoms of mental illness.
• Up to 12% of people affected by mental illness take their own lives (compared with an average of 1.7% for the whole population)¹⁷, and suicide is the main cause of premature death among people with mental illness¹⁸.
• Early detection and treatment of mental illness is important in preventing suicide, although many people do not seek help until symptoms become severe. This may be partly due to misconceptions and stigma surrounding mental illness ¹⁹.

Risk and protective factors for suicide

• Suicide is a complex phenomenon and rarely occurs as the result of a single event. Research has demonstrated that there are a number of risk factors and protective factors. Risk factors increase the probability of suicidal behaviour, while protective factors tend to offset that risk.
• Risk factors are categorised into individual, mental health, family, social and environmental risk factors.
  Individual risk factors include being male, experiencing psychological or emotional problems, physical health problems and stressful life events such as bereavement or relationship breakdown. Young gay or lesbian people may have an increased risk of suicidal behaviour²⁰.
• People with a mental illness are at increased risk of suicide, and may be especially vulnerable during exacerbations of their illness which require hospitalisation, after discharge from hospital or when treatment has been reduced. A history of mental illness and previous suicidal behaviour are also risk factors for suicide.
• Family related risk factors include family breakdown, family conflict, poor communication, child abuse and a family history of suicidal behaviour.
• Social risk factors include socio-economic disadvantage, school disengagement, unemployment, incarceration, isolation and living in a rural community. Suicide rates are also higher in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and in some migrant groups.
• Environmental risk factors include having access to methods of ending one’s life. People may also be at higher risk if someone close to them has shown suicidal behaviour. Suicide sometimes occurs in ‘clusters’ within a local area, when people identify with the distress of someone who has died by suicide.
• Protective factors include a sense of connection with family, school or the community; the presence of a caring partner or family member; being responsible for children; problem solving skills; a positive coping style or strong spiritual or religious faith; economic security and good physical health. Early detection and treatment of mental health problems, as well as restricted access to means of suicide can also help to reduce suicide risk.

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Myth Busting

There are many myths and misconceptions about suicide in the community. Below are suggestions for challenging some of these misconceptions using accurate information about suicide that has been drawn from research and clinical practice.

Most ‘normal’ people don’t think about taking their own life…

Measuring suicidal thoughts is difficult, but research suggests that thoughts about suicide are not that uncommon at some point in a person’s life, although most people do not act on them²¹.

Most suicides occur without warning…

Although there may be some cases where suicide occurs without warning, many people that attempt or complete suicide give verbal or non–verbal clues before the incident. Often there has been a history of personal problems, warning signs, mental health issues, suicide threats or prior attempts. Many people thinking about suicide will tell someone, loved ones and/or strangers, and some will seek professional help.

If someone reveals their suicide plan, you should not break their confidentiality…

Any information suggesting a person is contemplating suicide should be acted upon. A serious threat of suicide is one of the few situations where confidentiality must be breached in the interest of saving a life.

People who talk about killing themselves or attempting suicide are not serious – talking about it is just an attention-seeking behaviour and should be ignored…

Any suggestion of suicidal thoughts or threats of suicide should always be taken seriously. A person who threatens or attempts suicide is in need of support, whether or not they may be serious about ending their life at that particular time.

Talking about suicide with someone who is at risk may give them the idea and increase the chances of an attempted suicide…

Actually, many troubled people may be relieved if the issue is raised in a caring and non-judgemental way, allowing them to talk one-on-one about their feelings and to seek help.

People who attempt suicide are just selfish or weak…

People who attempt suicide are often experiencing strong negative feelings, possibly as a result of a mental disorder and may believe there is no other solution. People in this situation need professional and personal support, not judgement.

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References

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