The Global Burden of Disease study estimates that over 24, died from firearm suicide in the United States in The number of homicides by firearm in the same year was 14, Related chart — number of suicide deaths from firearms.
This map shows the number of annual suicide deaths from firearms across the world. One of the most common methods of suicide is deliberate poisoning from pesticides. Considering the illegality of suicide in several countries, and poor records of rural deaths, this is still likely to be an underestimate.
The issue of pesticide poisoning has, however, received much less attention as a preventable health outcome. Partly owing to restrictions and the banning of pesticides — alongside overall declines in suicide rates in countries where pesticides were widely used — suicide rates from pesticides have declined in recent years.
They are, however, still high. In the visualization we see estimates of the share of suicides globally and by region that were the result of pesticide poisoning. This research was carried out by Emma Mew et al. This was approximately , deaths. In some regions this share was much higher: almost half across the Western Pacific such as China, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Pacific Islands were from pesticides. It was much less common across Europe, North America and other high-income countries.
Related chart — number of deaths from suicide self-poisoning. This chart shows estimates of the number of suicide deaths from pesticides in globally and by region. Depression and other mood disorders are widely recognized among the most important risk factors for suicide. Bertolote and Fleischmann , for instance, provide a systematic review of studies reporting diagnoses of mental disorders for individuals dying from suicide, and discuss the implications of psychiatric diagnosis for suicide prevention.
The following visualization, taken from their paper, provides details regarding the types of mental disorders in question. Two points are worth emphasizing: i mood disorders — mainly depression — account for the largest share of diagnosed disorders in suicide cases, notably for those individuals who were diagnosed without being admitted to a mental hospital; and ii suicide is found associated with a variety of mental disorders.
Various studies have analyzed the correlation between economic recessions and suicide rates. Chang et al. The following graphs summarize their results.
As we can see, male rates in rose notably in Japan, Hong Kong and Korea, while rises in female rates were less marked in the same countries. Similar patterns in suicide rates were not seen in Taiwan and Singapore, where the economic crisis had a smaller impact on the economy. The chart by Reeves, McKee and Stuckler provides descriptive evidence from the Financial crisis of —08 in Europe.
As we can see, there is a clear change in suicide trends right after the crisis. Most of the studies exploring the effect of the economy on suicide tend to focus on patterns for specific events in particular countries or regions.
However, more comprehensive studies using cross-country data over several different world regions and over longer time windows find similar results. Recently, Nordt et al. Their results correspond with previous research indicating that a rise in unemployment is linked to an increase in suicides; however, they find that the relationship is non-linear — the correlation between unemployment and suicide is stronger in countries with a lower rather than with a higher pre-crisis unemployment rate.
Briggs and Tabarrok 22 investigate the relationship between firearm prevalence and suicide in a sample of all US states over the years — The scatter plot shown here provides evidence of the strong positive correlation that they find.
The vertical axis shows the rate of suicide by firearms, and the horizontal axis shows the percent of households that have firearms according to data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System telephone survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control.
The authors report that i firearms are very strongly related to firearm suicides; ii firearms are also strongly related to overall suicides — despite evidence for substantial substitution in method of suicide; and iii there is evidence for a diminishing effect of guns on suicides as ownership levels increase. The following visualization provides evidence supporting these results. It shows the monthly distribution of suicides in different areas of Greenland — the y-axis shows the number of suicide cases and the x-axis shows the corresponding month of the year, from January to December.
Legal unilateral divorce laws make seeking divorce easier, and is seen as being especially important for people to be able to escape abusive marriages. Stevenson and Wolfers 26 exploit the variation occurring from the different timing of divorce law reforms across the United States to evaluate how unilateral divorce changed family violence and whether the option provided by unilateral divorce reduced suicide and spousal homicide.
The authors estimate a regression of suicide rates using the time since until the introduction of unilateral divorce as an explanatory variable conditional on a series of other control variables. The following graphs summarize their results — further technical details are provided in their paper. Each panel shows the effect of unilateral divorce on suicide rates for a specific age group with the last panel showing the aggregate effect.
Specifically, we can see from the second row of this figure that prime-age women account for the bulk of the main effect, with unilateral divorce substantially reducing the suicide rates of women in each of the age groups from 25— Gould et al.
Indeed, based on such findings, the WHO has developed guidelines for the reporting of suicides in the media. In a review of the literature studying the link between media coverage and suicides, Stack 29 analyzes a total of findings from 42 academic studies, concluding that specific media content makes a substantial difference: studies measuring the effect of either an entertainment or political celebrity suicide story were More recent studies corroborate this result.
Using data from Austria, Niederkrotenthaler 30 find that repetitive reporting of the same suicide and the reporting of suicide myths were positively associated with higher suicide rates; while coverage of positive coping in adverse circumstances — as covered in media items about suicidal ideation i.
Alcohol abuse is strongly linked to death by suicide. In the US, in alcohol was involved in approximately a third of reported suicides. Indeed, several academic studies have found a positive and significant association between per capita alcohol consumption and male suicide rates in a number of countries. Its message is clear: to prevent suicide, interventions need to take place from the universal to the individual level.
One-size-fits-all approaches are likely to be ineffective. This can be confusing, since self-harm and suicide are not generally considered to be synonyms.
The term self-harm is often used by researchers to denote behaviour that is not explicitly intended to lead to death. The financial toll of suicide on society is also costly. Suicide is preventable and everyone has a role to play to save lives and create healthy and strong individuals, families, and communities. Suicide prevention requires a comprehensive public health approach.
States and communities can use the technical package to help make decisions about suicide prevention activities. Strategies range from those designed to support people at increased risk to a focus on the whole population, regardless of risk.
Both are free and confidential. For more information, visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline external icon. Skip directly to site content Skip directly to page options Skip directly to A-Z link.
Suicide Prevention. Section Navigation. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate. Facts About Suicide. Minus Related Pages. Suicide is a leading cause of death. Suicide is a large and growing public health problem. Women also are even more likely than men to attempt suicide. In the US for example, adult women in the US reported a suicide attempt 1.
But male suicide methods are often more violent, making them more likely to be completed before anyone can intervene. Access to means is a big contributing factor: in the US for example, six-in gun owners are men — and firearms account for more than half of suicides.
One study of more than 4, hospital patients who had engaged in self-harm found, for example, that the men had higher levels of suicidal intent than the women. One key element is communication. It often starts in childhood. From a young age, we condition men to think that crying is a sign of weakness Credit: Getty.
But men may be less likely to admit when they feel vulnerable, whether to themselves, friends, or a GP. They also can be more reticent than women to see a doctor. Men seek help for mental issues less often Credit: Getty. Only a third of people who take their own lives are in mental healthcare treatment at the time, says Harkavy-Friedman. Indeed, men are nearly twice as likely as women to meet criteria for alcohol dependence. But drinking can deepen depression and increase impulsive behaviours and alcoholism is a known risk factor for suicide.
Other risk factors can be related to family or work. When there's an economic downturn that results in increased unemployment, for example, there tends to be an associated increase in suicide — typically months after the downturn. Having to worry more about finances or trying to find a job can exacerbate mental health issues for anyone. But there are elements of social pressure and identity crisis, too. There can also be a spiralling effect. In the US, for example, health insurance often is linked to employment.
If a person is being treated for depression or substance use, they may lose that care when they lose their job. Another risk factor is a sense of isolation, as physician Thomas Joiner writes in his book Why people die by suicide. This can manifest itself in every walk of life. One potential risk factor is a sense of isolation Credit: Getty. There are no straightforward fixes for an issue this complex.
But a number of programmes, policies and nonprofits are making inroads. In Australia, for example, mental health and suicide prevention groups are trying to shift the cultural paradigm. One initiative that has gained traction is RU OK?
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