Suicide in Australia

Suicide in Australia

Key points

In Australia, 2132 deaths were as a result of suicide in 2009—six deaths per day.[1]
Even though suicide deaths are relatively small (out of a total of 140 760 registered deaths), it is a leading cause of death, ranked 14th in 2009 (the same as in 2000) but, more significantly, ranked 10th as a cause of death amongst males.
Suicide is predominantly a male cause of death with 76.6 per cent of all suicide deaths in 2009.
In 2009, the median age of suicide deaths was 43.4 years for males and 44.9 for females. In comparison, the median age of all deaths is 77.8 years for males and 83.9 for females.
In 2009, suicide was the leading cause of death for young people aged 15–24 with almost a quarter (22 per cent) of all deaths within this group as a result of suicide.
In 2007, the number of people who had serious thoughts about taking their own life was 368 100 and 65 300 had attempted suicide—equivalent to 179 attempts per day.
Suicide deaths are significantly higher for Indigenous Australians. Suicide accounted for four per cent of all Indigenous deaths in 2009 (97 deaths) compared to 1.5 per cent for the total population.

Download or read report::
Suicide Data in Australia
A report prepared by the Parliamentary Library of Australia

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