Suicide statistics worldwide

Updated October 2026

If you are thinking about suicide, help is available now, and many people have been where you are. Contact a crisis line or your local emergency number, or tell someone you trust. Our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide covers many countries.

The World Health Organization estimates that 727,000 people worldwide died by suicide in 2021 ¹. Suicide is a leading cause of death, especially among young people ². Suicide is preventable. Most people who think about suicide do not go on to act, and support, treatment and time help many people through. The figures below cover suicide worldwide and by country, and research on getting help.

The country rates in the Countries table all come from one source, the World Health Organization's Global Health Estimates, so they can be read on the same basis. Each figure names its source and year. By design, none of the figures gives detail about suicide methods or the places where suicides happen.

Getting help

If something on this page reflects what you are going through, you do not have to manage it alone. Our guide to finding the right therapist explains how to choose someone qualified, and the TherapyRoute directory lists therapists in many countries.

If you are in crisis or thinking about suicide, our list of helplines and crisis lines worldwide gives free services by country. In an emergency, call your local emergency number.

Who seeks help

About a quarter of people who die by suicide had contact with mental health services in the year before, which makes those contacts an important chance to offer help. In surveys across many countries, only about two in five people with suicidal thoughts or behaviour had received treatment ³. Many of those who did not get treatment felt they did not need it, or wanted to handle it alone. Some figures below pool the results of many studies into one figure, called a pooled estimate. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• Lebanon's national suicide prevention helpline received 17,849 calls from about eight thousand people from June 2021 to February 2023, a sign that people do use a line when one exists. (administrative records, June 2021 to February 2023 data) ⁴
• Young people aged eighteen to twenty-five made up 39% of callers to Lebanon's national suicide prevention helpline from June 2021 to February 2023. (administrative records, June 2021 to February 2023 data) ⁴
• In pooled studies, mostly from Western Europe and North America, 25.7% of people who died by suicide had contact with mental health services in their final year. So most had no such contact in that year. (pooled from prevalence studies, published 2018) ⁵
• Among adults in low income countries who had suicidal thoughts or behaviour in the past year, only 17% received any treatment. (survey published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ³
• Among adults in high income countries who had suicidal thoughts or behaviour in the past year, 56% received some treatment. (survey published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ³
• Among adults with suicidal thoughts or behaviour in the past year who did not get treatment, 58% said they did not feel they needed it, the most common reason. (survey published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ³
• Among adults with suicidal thoughts or behaviour in the past year who did not get treatment in that year, 40% gave a reason to do with attitudes, such as wanting to handle it alone. (survey published 2011, fieldwork year not stated) ³

What helps

Some approaches have good evidence. A relative risk compares how often something happens in one group with another; below one means it happens less often. Safety planning with a professional reduced suicidal behaviour in trials, and a school programme on mental health awareness reduced new suicide attempts among pupils. Crisis lines are a standard source of support, though studies of their effect are still weak. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• This figure covers patients aged eighteen and over at risk of suicide who received a safety planning-type intervention. That means help to write a step-by-step plan for staying safe in a crisis. Compared with patients in control groups (usual treatment or another treatment), their relative risk of suicidal behaviour was 0.570. That means their risk of suicidal behaviour was about fifty-seven per cent of the risk in the control groups. (meta-analysis of studies, published 2021) ⁶
• Among pupils who took part in a school mental health awareness programme, 0.7% reported a new suicide attempt a year later, fewer than in comparison schools. (randomised trial, 2009-2010 data) ⁷
• In the comparison schools, 1.5% of pupils reported a new suicide attempt a year later. (randomised trial, 2009-2010 data) ⁷
• A systematic review gathers and weighs all the studies on a question. One review of crisis line research rated 80% of studies at high risk of bias, meaning their design could give misleading results. Because most studies are weak, there is still no high-quality evidence showing that crisis lines are effective. That does not mean they do not help. (systematic review of studies, published 2020) ⁸

Suicide worldwide

The World Health Organization estimates suicide deaths for every country. Rates have fallen in many regions since the start of the century, but not everywhere. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• An estimated 727,000 people worldwide died by suicide in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ¹
• Worldwide, suicide was the third leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 29, in estimates for 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• The global age-standardised suicide rate, adjusted so that populations of different ages compare fairly, was 8.9 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• Suicide accounted for 1.1% of all deaths worldwide in 2021, more than one death in every hundred. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• Among males worldwide, the age standardised suicide rate was 12.3 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• Among females worldwide, the age standardised suicide rate was 5.6 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• Worldwide, the age-standardised suicide rate among males was 2.2 times the rate among females, in estimates for 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• Between 2000 and 2021, the global age-standardised suicide rate fell by 35%. (modelled estimate, 2000-2021 data) ²
• If the trend over 2015-2019 continues, the World Health Organization projects that the global suicide rate will fall by 12% by 2030. (modelled estimate, 2015-2019 data) ²
• The World Health Organization estimated suicide for 183 countries. Only 60 of them had high-quality death registration data, and for most of the others the estimates relied on modelling. (administrative records, 2000-2021 data) ²

Age and income

Suicide affects people of every age, and most deaths occur in low and middle income countries. The rate per person is not higher in low income countries. In 2021, it was 11.8 per 100,000 people in high income countries and 10.5 per 100,000 people in low income countries ². If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• In 2021, 56% of suicide deaths worldwide were among people younger than fifty. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• Of adolescents aged ten to nineteen who died by suicide in 2021, 84% lived in low and middle income countries. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• About 73% of the world's suicides in 2021 occurred in low- and middle-income countries. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ⁹
• In high income countries the age standardised suicide rate was 11.8 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• In low income countries the age standardised suicide rate was 10.5 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²

Regions

Rates differ between the World Health Organization's regions, and so do the trends since the start of the century. Five of the six regions appear below; this page holds no checked figure for the South-East Asia Region. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• In the World Health Organization African Region, the age standardised suicide rate was 11.5 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization European Region, the age standardised suicide rate was 10.1 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization Region of the Americas, the age standardised suicide rate was 9.2 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Region, the age standardised suicide rate was 4.0 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region, the age standardised suicide rate was 7.5 per 100,000 people in 2021. (modelled estimate, 2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization Region of the Americas, the age standardised suicide rate rose by 17% over 2000-2021, the only region where it rose. (modelled estimate, 2000-2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization African Region, the age standardised suicide rate fell by 3% over 2000-2021. (modelled estimate, 2000-2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization European Region, the age standardised suicide rate fell by 48% over 2000-2021. (modelled estimate, 2000-2021 data) ²
• In the World Health Organization Western Pacific Region, the age standardised suicide rate fell by 50% over 2000-2021. (modelled estimate, 2000-2021 data) ²

Suicidal thoughts

Surveys in many countries ask about suicidal thoughts. Thoughts are far more common than attempts, and most people with them do not act on them. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• Across seventeen countries, 9.2% of adults had thought about suicide at some point in their lives. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ¹⁰
• Across seventeen countries, 3.1% of adults had made a suicide plan at some point in their lives. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ¹⁰
• Across seventeen countries, 2.7% of adults had made a suicide attempt at some point in their lives. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ¹⁰
• In surveys of adults in seventeen countries, among people whose suicidal thoughts went on to a plan or an attempt, 60% of those steps happened within the first year after the thoughts began. This is why early help matters. (survey, lifetime (ever), published 2008, fieldwork year not stated) ¹⁰
• Pooled school surveys from eighty-two countries show that 14.0% of students aged twelve to seventeen had seriously considered suicide in the past year. (survey, past 12 months, 2003-2015 data) ¹¹

Mental health conditions

Mental health conditions raise the risk of suicide, and treatment helps. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• People aged fifteen and over with bipolar disorder were about twelve times as likely to die by suicide as the general population or comparison groups. That is a risk ratio of 11.69, which reads the same way as the relative risk explained above. The figure pools mostly cohort studies, which follow groups of people over time, and the authors call for suicide prevention in this group. A raised risk describes a group, not any one person's future, and it is a reason to stay connected with treatment. (meta-analysis of studies, published 2023) ¹²
• Coroners recorded a mood disorder such as depression in 32.3% of suicide deaths among males in Australia in 2024, the most common risk factor. (registered deaths, 2024 data) ¹³
• Coroners recorded a mood disorder such as depression in 43.1% of suicide deaths among females in Australia in 2024, the most common risk factor. (registered deaths, 2024 data) ¹³
• Among adults in Korea who had made a suicide plan, 83.3% had a mental disorder. Of those diagnosed with a mental disorder in the past year, no more than 7.2% used mental health services. (survey, 2021 data) ¹⁴

Countries

These World Health Organization estimates use one method for every country, listed here without ranking. Data quality varies: many countries have no complete death registration, so the estimates rely on modelling. Where suicide carries stigma or legal penalties it is under-reported, so a low rate may partly reflect under-recording. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

National records over time

National registries and health ministries track suicide over many years. These figures are counts, shares or within-country trends from national records; none is a rate for comparing countries. If you are in distress right now, see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

• Brazil's registered suicide rate rose by 42% over 2010-2021, according to its Ministry of Health. (registered deaths, 2010-2021 data) ¹⁵
• In Brazil in 2021, 77.8% of registered suicide deaths were of males. (registered deaths, 2021 data) ¹⁵
• Men account for about 80% of all suicides in Israel, according to the Ministry of Health. The ministry links part of the gap to men being less likely to disclose depression or seek help. (registered deaths, published 2025, year not stated) ¹⁶
• In Mexico, preliminary figures show that 65.6% of registered suicide deaths in 2023 were of people younger than forty. (registered deaths, 2023 data) ¹⁷
• Japan recorded 21,837 suicide deaths in 2023. (administrative records, 2023 data) ¹⁸
• Statistics Korea registered 12,906 deaths by suicide in the Republic of Korea in 2022. (registered deaths, 2022 data) ¹⁹
• An analysis of Statistics Korea data counted 35,967 deaths by suicide among young people aged ten to twenty-four in South Korea over the period 1983-2024. (registered deaths, 1983-2024 data) ²⁰
• Males made up 60.9% of registered suicide deaths among people aged ten to twenty-four in South Korea over the period 1983-2024. (registered deaths, 1983-2024 data) ²⁰
• Men made up 75.6% of the people who died by suicide in Türkiye in 2018, according to TurkStat, Türkiye's national statistics office. (registered deaths, 2018 data) ²¹
• TurkStat data show 2,793 deaths by suicide in Türkiye in 2007, the first year of the national address-based population register. (registered deaths, 2007 data) ²²
• TurkStat data show 4,146 deaths by suicide in Türkiye in 2022, about three in four of them men. Fifteen years earlier the count was under two thousand eight hundred. Official counts may be too low, because records class some suicides as accidents. (registered deaths, 2022 data) ²²
• An analysis of TurkStat data counted 64,672 deaths by suicide in Türkiye over the twenty years 2004-2023. (registered deaths, 2004-2023 data) ²³
• Of the people who died by suicide in Türkiye over the period 2004-2023, 8,954 were children and adolescents under twenty, and just over half of them were boys. (registered deaths, 2004-2023 data) ²³
• A study of Iran's national Forensic Medicine Organization registry counted 19,268 deaths by suicide over the four Persian calendar years from March 2016 to March 2020. (registered deaths, 2016-2020 (March to March) data) ²⁴
• Men made up 70.9% of the people who died by suicide in Iran in national forensic records for the four years from March 2016. The median age at death (the middle age, with half younger and half older) was thirty-two. (registered deaths, 2016-2020 (March to March) data) ²⁴
• Registered suicide rates among young people aged ten to twenty-four in South Korea rose by about 5.6% a year on average over the decade 2014-2024, reversing an earlier decline. (registered deaths, 2014-2024 data) ²⁰
• In Türkiye, the recorded suicide rate rose by an average of 1.4% a year over the period 2007-2022, according to an analysis of TurkStat data. (registered deaths, 2007-2022 data) ²²
• Among men in Türkiye, the recorded suicide rate rose by about 2.3% a year over the period 2007-2022, according to an analysis of TurkStat data. (registered deaths, 2007-2022 data) ²²
• Israel recorded about 405 suicides a year on average in the decade to 2022, according to the Ministry of Health. (registered deaths, decade to 2022 data) ²⁵
• Of the suicides recorded in Israel each year in the decade to 2022, roughly 319 were men and about eighty-six were women. (registered deaths, decade to 2022 data) ²⁵
• Hospital emergency departments in Israel recorded an average of 6,300 suicide attempts a year in the decade to 2022, each one a chance to connect a person with ongoing care. (administrative records, decade to 2022 data) ²⁵
• Among young men aged eighteen to twenty-five in Israel, suicide is the second most common cause of death and accounts for about 20% of deaths, according to the Ministry of Health. (registered deaths, published 2025, year not stated) ¹⁶
• In Israel over 2017-2019, the registered suicide rate for boys aged fifteen to twenty-four was 4.0 times the rate for girls. In the last of those years, suicide was the second most common cause of death for boys. (registered deaths, 2017-2019 data) ²⁶
• In South Africa in 2017, the suicide rate for males was 4.5 times that for females, according to a national mortuary survey. (survey, 2017 data) ²⁷

How to read these figures

Country rates here are World Health Organization modelled estimates, age-standardised so that countries with different age structures can be read on the same basis. National registries may publish different figures.

In many countries deaths are under-recorded, and suicide is under-reported where it carries stigma or legal penalties. Real numbers may be higher.

The page shows trends only over five years or more, because single-year changes can be chance fluctuations.

Figures on thoughts and attempts come from surveys that asked people directly, which can under-count.

Suicide is preventable, and recovery from suicidal crisis is common. Talking openly and calmly about suicide does not put the idea in someone's head; it can open the door to help. Support can lower risk: in trials, safety planning with a professional reduced suicidal behaviour ⁶, and a school mental health awareness programme reduced new suicide attempts among pupils ⁷.

If you are struggling, a psychologist or counsellor can help you find a way through, and our guide on how to find the right therapist explains what to look for. If you are in crisis now, contact your local emergency number or see our helplines and crisis lines worldwide.

Cite this page: TherapyRoute. Suicide statistics worldwide. https://www.therapyroute.com/article/suicide-statistics-worldwide-by-therapyroute. Last updated 18 October 2026.

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