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  2. About suicide

National Suicide Data

Life in Mind aims to connect Australian suicide prevention services and programs to each other and the community by providing a comprehensive online portal and supporting coordinated, consistent messaging around suicide prevention through the operationalisation of the National Communications Charter.

Each year the Australian Bureau of Statistics(ABS) releases the Causes of Death data.

When exploring suicide data it is important to remember that behind the numbers are people, families and communities impacted by suicide in Australia. The reasons people take their own life are complex and often there is no single reason why a person attempts or dies by suicide.

The current release of data includes preliminary suicide death data for the year prior and revised suicide data for year the before.

The data summaries have been developed by the Mindframe team to support the suicide prevention sector and the wider community on the key findings.

An overview of ABS Causes of Death data

  • In 2018, there were 3,046 deaths by suicide with an age-specific rate of 12.2 per 100,000.
  • This equates to an average of 8.3**deaths by suicide in Australia each day.
  • There were 2,320 male deaths at a age-specific rate of 18.7 per 100,000.
  • There were 726 female deaths at an age-specific rate of 5.8 per 100,000.

**This is calculated by Mindframe and we recommend using with caution.

Learn more
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of death data released, 2019.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of death data released, 2019.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of death data released,
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of death data released,
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of death data released,
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of death data released,

Note about using statistics

  • This is a summary of suicide death data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on 25 September 2019 in Catalogue 3303.0.
  • This summary represents suicide rates and trends in the 2018 (preliminary) data, trends by age group over time and state variations.
  • This is the third year that the ABS have released the preliminary data at an earlier date. Suicide data is now released nine months (in September) after end of year. Before 2016, suicide data was released 15 months after end of year.

ABS Causes of Death data 2018 Summaries

To view the full ABS summary, please visit Mindframe.

Mindframe

Mindframe has been managed by Everymind (previously known as Hunter Institute of Mental Health) since 2002. Mindframe encourages responsible, accurate and sensitive representation of mental illness and suicide in the Australian media (i.e. online, print, broadcast and stage and screen). Mindframe involves building a collaborative relationship with the media and other sectors that influence the media. Program activities include national leadership, resource development and national dissemination, and ongoing contribution to the evidence-base.

National Suicide Data 2018 (released 2019)
Indigenous breakdown 2018 (released 2019)

In this section

Psychosocial risk factors for coroner-referred suicide deaths

Information specific to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) research report titled ‘Psychosocial risk factors as they relate to coroner-referred deaths in Australia'.

Suicide facts and stats

The latest release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of Death data includes, the latest suicide data for Australia and provides the suicide prevention sector and the general public with data and information around suicide related deaths across the country.

Understanding the ABS Causes of Death data

The snapshot summaries of suicide data were prepared by Mindframe using the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Causes of Death data.

Note about using statistics

Life in Mind are encouraging the community and stakeholders to be mindful of the following details when sharing and discussing the latest ABS information.