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Australian Bureau of Statistics Causes of Death

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. By increasing our understanding of data alongside the lived experience of distress, we will increase the opportunity to save lives.

Causes of Death data release 2022

Released by the ABS on Wednesday, 27 September 2023.

In 2022, there were 3,249 suicide deaths in Australia, with an age-standardised rate of 12.3 deaths per 100,000 population. The rate for 2022 is a slight increase from the rate recorded for 2021 (12.1 per 100,000).
The aged-standardised rate for males increased by 2.6% between 2021 and 2022.
The age-standardised rate for females decreased by 2.3% between 2021 and 2022.
Young and middle-aged people are more likely to die by suicide than those in older age groups, with 81.7% of people who died by suicide being under the age of 65.
Men aged over 85 years had the highest male age-specific suicide rate but accounted for the smallest proportion (2.9%) of male suicides.
Men aged between 45-49 years had the highest age-specific suicide rate of those aged under 85 years, accounting for the largest proportion of deaths due to suicide (10.7%).
In 2022, women aged over 85 years had the highest female age-specific suicide rate for the first time since the beginning of the ABS mortality data time series with a rate of 10.6 per 100,000.
Women aged 45-49 years had the highest female age-specific suicide rate of females aged under 85 years (8.8 per 100,000).
There were 239 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who died by suicide across Australia in 2022.
Using data from New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Northern Territory, the age-standardised suicide rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was 29.9 per 100,000. This is the highest suicide rate in the 10-year time series.
The highest number of suicide deaths occurred in New South Wales (911 deaths). However, the Northern Territory recorded the highest rate of suicide (age-standardised rate 20.5 per 100,000 people).
Almost 86% of suicides had at least one risk factor reported, with an average of 3-4 factors mentioned. Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor for both males (34.9%) and females (43.3%) for all age groups except for those 85 years and older.
There were 84 people (2.6% of all suicide deaths) who had the COVID-19 pandemic mentioned in either a police, pathology or coronial finding report.
Data for 2022 includes information on country of birth for those who died by suicide. Those born in Australia had an age-standardised rate of 14.7 per 100,000, while those born overseas had an age-standardised rate of 8.2 per 100,000.