Intentional self-harm (suicide) deaths

In order to measure changes over time, age-standardised suicide rates for males, females and all persons are presented in the graph below. Upper and lower bounds (confidence intervals) are included to show the potential variability of the annual suicide rates and can be used in measuring statistical significance of the annual rate change.

For males in 2024:

• 2,529 deaths have been initially identified as being due to suicide.
• Suicide was the 11th leading cause of death.
• The median age at death for those who died by suicide was 46.5 years.
• Over three-quarters (76.5%) of people who died by suicide were male.
• The crude suicide rate was 18.7 per 100,000 people.
• The age-standardised suicide rate was 18.3 per 100,000 people. This is similar to the age-standardised suicide rate in 2023 which was 18.4 per 100,000 people.

For females in 2024:

• There were 778 deaths due to suicide.
• Suicide was the 27th leading cause of death.
• The median age at death for those who died by suicide was 44.7 years.
• The crude suicide rate was 5.7 per 100,000 people.
• The age-standardised suicide rate was 5.5 per 100,000 people. This is a decrease from 2023 when the age-standardised suicide rate was 6.0 per 100,000 people.

In 2024:

• Three-quarters of people who died by suicide had a usual residence in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. These are the three most populace states and territories.
• Those living in the Northern Territory had the highest age-standardised suicide rate at 19.3 per 100,000 people. It was over 2.5 times higher than the suicide rate for those residing in the Australian Capital Territory (7.6), which was the jurisdiction with the lowest rate in 2024. 

Between 2023 and 2024:

• The suicide rate increased in the Northern Territory.
• For New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, the suicide rate is similar to that recorded in 2023.
• The preliminary suicide rate has decreased in 2024 for Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory.
• Suicide data for 2024 is preliminary. It is likely that data will increase as coronial investigations close and coding is revised. Data on deaths due to suicide have been revised for 2023 and earlier.

Understanding how suicide manifests across key demographics is important in helping to target policies and prevention activities. Information is presented on suicide by age and sex including age-specific mortality rates which adjust for the underlying population size of each age group and years of potential life lost, a measure of premature mortality which uses age at death as a key measure. 

The graph below shows the age distribution for those who died by suicide and the proportion of those deaths that occurred within each age cohort.

In 2024:

• Young and middle-aged people were more likely to die by suicide than those in older age cohorts.
• 82.6 percent of people who died by suicide were aged under 65 years.
• People who died by suicide had a median age of 46.0 years compared to 82.0 years for all deaths.
• The proportional distribution of those aged under 20 years who died by suicide differed for males and females:
  • For females, 5.7% of suicides occurred in those aged under 20 years.
  • For males 3.4% of suicides occurred in those aged under 20 years.

In 2024: 

• Males aged over 85 years had the highest age-specific suicide rate (31.2 per 100,000 people). The proportion of suicides occurring in this age group was 2.9%.
• Males aged between 40-44 years accounted for the highest proportion of deaths due to suicide (10.5%). The age-specific suicide rate for this age group was 28.8 per 100,000 people. 

Between 2023 and 2024:

• Males aged between 60-64 years had the largest increase in their age-specific suicide rate (up 4.6 deaths per 100,000)
• Males aged under 20 years had a decrease in their age-specific suicide rate.
• Males aged 80-84 years had the largest decrease in their age-specific suicide rate (down 3.9 deaths per 100,000).

In 2024, females aged between 25-29 years:

• Had the highest age-specific suicide rate (9.8 per 100,000 people).
• Had the largest increase in their age-specific suicide rate from 2023 (up 1.5 deaths per 100,000).
• Accounted for the highest proportion of deaths due to suicide (12.3%).

Between 2023 and 2024:

• Females aged under 20 years had the largest decrease in their age-specific suicide rate (down 2.8 deaths per 100,000).
• Females aged between 50-54 years had the second largest decrease in their age-specific death rates (down 2.3 deaths per 100,000).

Suicide accounted for the highest number of years of potential life lost among leading cause groups of conditions for both males and females. This is due to the high proportion of suicides that occur within younger age groups. Conditions such as coronary heart disease account for more deaths than suicide for people aged under 78, but fewer years of potential life lost.

In 2024:

• Suicide was the leading cause of death for those aged between 15-44 years.
• Suicide was the leading cause of premature mortality with 107,327 years of potential life lost.
• A person who died by suicide lost on average 34.4 years of life. 

For males who died in 2024:

• Suicide was the leading cause of premature mortality with 80,853 years of potential life lost.
• Those who died by suicide lost on average 33.9 years of life.

For females who died in 2024:

• Suicide was the second leading cause of premature mortality with 26,515 years of life lost.
• Those who died by suicide lost on average 36.2 years of life.

Deaths of children by suicide is an extremely sensitive issue. The number of deaths of children attributed to suicide can be influenced by coronial reporting practices. Reporting practices may lead to differences in counts across jurisdictions and this should be considered when interpreting tabulations and analysis of suicides in children presented below. For more information on issues associated with the compilation and interpretation of suicide data, see Deaths due to intentional self-harm (suicide) section of the methodology in this publication. For the purposes of the following analysis, children are defined as those aged between 5 and 17 years of age. The ABS are not aware of any recorded suicides of children under the age of 5 years. The tabulation below shows the number and age-specific death rate for children who died by suicide over the last 5 years.

In 2024: 

• Suicide was the second leading cause of child death in Australia. Land transport accidents (V01-V89, Y85) were the leading cause of death in children, causing 80 deaths.
• There were 70 children who died by suicide, accounting for 15.9% of child deaths. This is a decrease from 2023, when 96 deaths of children were recorded as being due to suicide.
• Males had a suicide rate of 1.8 per 100,000 children (40 deaths).
• Females had a suicide rate of 1.4 per 100,000 children (30 deaths).
• Over 87% of children who died by suicide were aged 14-17 years (61 deaths).
• Suicide data for 2024 is preliminary. Data may change as part of the revisions process.

• The sex ratio for children aged 5-17 years was 1.3 males per female death. This compared to a sex ratio of 3.3 for people of all ages who died by suicide.
• The sex ratio for children has remained fairly consistent over the last 10 years.

People from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CaLD) may have unique experiences in relation to mental health and suicide, including cultural and family views and how health services are accessed. Death registrations do not directly collect information on whether a person was part of a CaLD community. Data items from the death registration which can provide some indication of cultural and linguistic diversity are country of birth and years of residence in Australia. While these two variables do not provide complete information on suicide for people of CaLD backgrounds, they do provide some additional insights into suicide in Australia.

For the 5-year period 2020 to 2024, those born in Australia had a higher age-standardised suicide rate compared to those born in other regions. The suicide rate for people born in Australia was 14.6 per 100,000 people which is 1.8 times higher than the suicide rate for those born overseas which was 8.3 per 100,000 people. The largest difference was between those born in Southern and Central Asia where the suicide rate was close to 3.5 times lower than those born in Australia. 

The table below presents the number of deaths due to suicide, the age-standardised mortality suicide rates, the median age at death for suicide and the median age of the population. The median age of the population is presented to demonstrate the difference of the population structures for those born in different regions. All suicide rates are age-standardised (adjusted for population size and age structure) to enable comparison between regions and countries. 

Suicide for people with a country of birth other than Australia: 

• Those with a country of birth in the region of Oceania and Antarctica (excluding Australia) had the highest suicide rate, at 13.5 per 100,000 people.
• Those with a country of birth in the region of Southern and Central Asia had the lowest suicide rate, at 4.3 per 100,000 people. Those born in this region also had the lowest median age at death at 34.6 years.
• The regions of North Africa and the Middle East, South-East Asia, Southern and Central Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa all had a lower median age at death due to suicide than those born in Australia.

The table below shows the 20 most common countries of birth by the number who died by suicide in Australia in 2020-2024. For the 5-year period 2020 to 2024. Excluding Australia, England was the most common country of birth for those who died by suicide (730 deaths). When adjusted for population size and age-structure, those with a country of birth in England did not have the highest suicide rate of those born overseas.

The graph below shows age-standardised suicide rates by country of birth for those who died by suicide in Australia in 2020-2024. This graph is presented by the highest age-standardised death rate. For the 5-year period 2020 to 2024, those born in Northern Ireland, Wales, Malta, Kenya, New Zealand, Scotland and Hungary had a higher suicide rate than those born in Australia.

The tables below show the number of suicides and age-standardised suicide rates for those living in Major Cities of Australia, Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, and Remote and Very Remote Australia from 2020-2024. Classes of remoteness are characterised by a measure of relative geographic access to services (for more information, see Remoteness Areas). All suicide rates are age-standardised to account for the different population and age structure of people residing in each remoteness area. 

In the five-year period 2020-2024:

• The suicide rate in remote and very remote Australia was between 20.5 and 24.6 deaths per 100,000 people. This is consistently higher than suicide rates in both regional areas and major cities.
• Major cities of Australia had the lowest suicide rate across all years (between 9.9 and 10.9 deaths per 100,000 people).
• The suicide rate for males living in remote and very remote Australia in 2021-2024 was more than double the rate for males living in major cities.
• Though 2024 suicide data is considered preliminary, suicide rates for males and persons living in remote and very remote Australia are the highest in the 5-year time-series.

The tables below show the number of suicides and age-standardised suicide rates for relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage using the Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) from 2020-2024. Low scores indicate relatively greater disadvantage and high scores indicate relatively greater advantage. Quintiles are used here for comparison (for more information, see Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas). All suicide rates are age-standardised to account for the different population and age structure of people in each quintile. 

In 2024, the suicide rate for people with the lowest level of socio-economic advantage (quintile 1) was 2.5 times higher than the rate people with the highest level of socio-economic advantage (quintile 5). 

In the five-year period 2020-2024:

• The male suicide rate for those within the least advantaged quintile (1) was between 2.3 and 2.6 times higher than the male suicide rate in the most advantaged quintile (5).
• The female suicide rate in the least advantaged quintile (1) was between 1.5 and 2.2 times higher than the female suicide rate in the most advantaged quintile (5).
• Across nearly all years for both males and females, the suicide rate is higher as relative disadvantage increases (the one exception to this is for females in 2020, where there was a slight increase in the suicide rate in the highest quintile). 

Occupation coding (Occupation Standard Classification for Australia or OSCA) for coroner referred deaths has been completed for the first time for deaths registered in 2023 and 2024. This work has been funded by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), as part of the National Suicide and Self-Harm Monitoring Project. The ABS has an ongoing work program which focuses on enhancements to the national mortality dataset. This is a new output and may be subject to improvements and revisions over time. A technical note outlining the methodology and including more data on occupation for deaths due to suicide is included in Occupation Coding for Coroner Referred Deaths in the Deaths from external causes topic page. Information relating to the deceased’s occupation is collected on death registration forms completed by the informant, typically the funeral director in consultation with the deceased’s family. Information on occupation is subject to a number of limitations that may affect the accuracy, specificity and reliability of coding. Occupation information does not include reference to workplace or mechanism of death.

The table below shows the number of deaths due to suicide for the major occupation groups for 2023 and 2024 combined. Deaths that could not be coded to a major occupation group have been assigned a supplementary code.

In 2023 and 2024:

• For males who died by suicide, technicians and trades workers was the most common major occupation group listed on their death registration (27.6% of suicides in males).
• For females who died by suicide, professionals was the most common major occupation group listed on their death registration (21.8% of suicide in females).
• The table does not account for underlying differences in the number of males and females employed in each of the major occupation groups. For example, 94.1% of suicides where technicians and trades workers was listed as the occupation were of males. A higher proportion of males work in this occupation group. 

Most data in Causes of Death, Australia is reported by year of registration. A benefit of this approach is that once a registration year is finalised, the time series remains unchanged. The year a death is registered most often is in the same year a death occurs and deaths by registration year most often closely align with deaths by occurrence year. 

In some cases, data by year of occurrence may be preferred, as it reflects when deaths happened rather than when they were registered. However, year of occurrence data takes longer to be complete because for some deaths, there can be long periods between the time of death, its registration, and the cause of death being finalised.

The table below shows the number of suicides by year of occurrence until the end of 2023. The table includes some deaths coded as being due to suicide that occurred 2015 to 2023 but were registered in 2024 and 2025. 

In 2024: 

• 79.7% of people who died by suicide had at least one risk factor reported at the time of preliminary coding (2,635 people). This proportion is likely to increase as coronial investigations are finalised.
• Psychosocial risk factors were the most commonly reported risk factor, present in 66.7% of deaths of people who died by suicide.
• People who died by suicide had an average of 4 risk factors mentioned.

The types of risk factors experienced by a person can vary across their life. Risk factors more commonly seen in persons in older age groups, such as pain and limitation of activities due to chronic health conditions, are not as common in younger age groups. Similarly, problems related to employment and unemployment are most common in those included in the working age population (defined as 15-64 years). 

For suicides registered in 2024:

• Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor overall, and in those aged between 25-84 years.
• Suicide ideation was the most common risk factor for those aged under 25 years and was mentioned as a risk factor in over a quarter of suicides across all age groups. Suicide ideation can include thoughts or contemplation of suicide, and both direct and indirect discussions or comments surrounding a person’s intention to end their life.
• Limitation of activities due to illness and disability continues to be the most common risk factor for those aged 85 years and over.
• Those aged 25-64 years were most likely to have problems related to employment, spousal relationships, and legal circumstances mentioned as risk factors.
• The highest median age at death was seen for those with problems related to care provider dependency (76.3 years). High median ages at death were also seen for those who had chronic health conditions (malignant neoplasms, ischaemic heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders and chronic lower respiratory diseases) and pain. These risk factors are more likely to impact quality of life for those in older age cohorts.

Acute alcohol use was recorded as a factor in 15.4% of suicides, and directly contributed to death in a further 2.4% (i.e., deaths due to intentional alcohol toxicity or mixed drug and alcohol toxicity (X60-X65)). Acute alcohol use can affect a death due to suicide in a number of ways including causing respiratory depression (especially when used in combination with other drugs) or affecting judgement and decision-making processes.

In 2024:

• Those aged between 25-44 years were the most likely age group to have acute alcohol use and intoxication mentioned as a risk factor (present in 19.3% of suicides in this age group).
• Those aged between 45-64 years were the most likely age group to have chronic alcohol abuse disorders mentioned as a risk factor (present in 19.3% of suicides in this age group).

Acute psychoactive substance use was recorded as a factor in 15.9% of suicides, and directly contributed to death in a further 12.2% (i.e., deaths due to intentional drug toxicity or mixed drug and alcohol toxicity (X60-X65)). Like alcohol, acute use of psychoactive substances can affect a death due to suicide in several ways, including by impairing cognition, perception or moods, or by causing toxicity.

In 2024:

• Those aged 25-44 years were most likely to have issues with psychoactive substance use mentioned as a risk factor (present in 25.0% of suicides as acute use and intoxication and in 27.4% as chronic use).
• For those aged 25-44 years, acute and chronic psychoactive substance use were more common risk factors than acute or chronic alcohol use.

For males in 2024:

• Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor, being captured in 32.3% of all suicides.
• Suicide ideation was the most commonly mentioned risk factor for those aged under 25 years.
• Substance abuse was a more common risk factor for males than for females.
• Males aged 25-44 years were the most likely age group to have chronic psychoactive substance abuse disorders mentioned as a risk factor (28.6%),
• Males aged 25-44 years were the most likely age group to have acute substance abuse, including:
  • Acute alcohol use and intoxication (21.3%).
  • Acute psychoactive substance use and intoxication (26.8%).
• Those with acute and chronic alcohol use mentioned as a risk factor had higher median ages than those with acute and chronic psychoactive substance use.
• The most common psychosocial risk factor was problems in spousal relationships circumstances, present in 25.7% of suicides overall and most commonly mentioned as a risk factor for those aged between 25-44 years (31.1%). Problems in spousal relationships can include separation and divorce as well as arguments and domestic violence situations.
• Problems in spousal relationships was the third most common risk factor mentioned for males who died by suicide. This compares to the fifth most common for females.

For females in 2024:

• Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor, being captured in 43.1% of all suicides. Females aged 45-64 years were the most likely age group to have mood disorders mentioned as a risk factor.
• Mood disorders and anxiety disorders were more common risk factors for females than for males.
• Suicide ideation was mentioned as a risk factor in over 30% of suicides. Suicide ideation was present in 40.4% of females aged under 25 years.
• The most common psychosocial risk factor was personal history of self-harm, present in 29.3% of suicides.
• Females aged 25-44 years were the most likely age group to have psychoactive substance abuse (both acute and chronic use) mentioned as a risk factor.

Psychosocial risk factors have been coded by the ABS since 2017. The addition of psychosocial factors to the national mortality dataset added to information on risk factors that were already captured such as mental health disorders and chronic diseases. Information on risk factors across the past 5 years is presented below.

For suicides across 2020-2024:

• Mood disorders and suicide ideation were the first and second most common risk factors for each year.
• The same risk factors were in the top five across each of these years.
• Chronic psychoactive substance abuse disorders continue to be more commonly mentioned risk factors than chronic alcohol abuse disorders.
• Problems in spousal relationships and personal history of self-harm were the two most common psychosocial risk factors recorded across these years.
• In 2024 acute psychoactive substance use was more commonly mentioned as a risk factor than acute alcohol use. This has not been the case since 2020.

Over 27% of Australia’s population live in regional and remote areas, where suicide rates are higher than rates in Australia’s major cities. Factors contributing to elevated suicide rates in regional and remote Australia are multifaceted and may be influenced by social, economic, health and environmental conditions specific to these regions.

The table below shows the most common risk factors for those who died by suicide between 2020-2024, grouped by remoteness areas (Major Cities of Australia, Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, Remote and Very Remote Australia). Classes of remoteness are characterised by a measure of relative geographic access to services (for more information, see Remoteness Areas).

Between 2020-2024:

• Those living in major cities were more likely to have a specific mental health condition mentioned than those who lived in regional or remote Australia. These included mood disorders (including depression), anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia. As remoteness increased, there was a lower likelihood of a specific mental health condition being mentioned.
• Substance abuse was the most commonly mentioned risk factor for those living in remote and very remote Australia. This included:
  • Acute alcohol use and intoxication (mentioned in 34.4%)
  • Acute psychoactive substance use and intoxication (mentioned in 31.6%)
  • Chronic psychoactive substance abuse disorders (mentioned in 23.7%)
  • Chronic alcohol abuse disorders (mentioned in 20.8%).
• Acute substance use and intoxication were over 10% more likely to be mentioned for those living in remote and very remote areas, compared with those living in major cities and regional areas.
• Problems related to employment and the social environment (which includes social exclusion and rejection) were more common in major cities and inner regional areas.
• Problems related to a person’s primary support network, including death of a loved one and problems in spousal relationships, were more common in outer regional and remote areas.
• Problems relating to legal circumstances were more common in those living in remote and very remote Australia. 

The table below shows the most common risk factors for those who died by suicide between 2020-2024 by relative socio-economic advantage and disadvantage using the Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD). Low scores indicate relatively greater disadvantage and high scores indicate relatively greater advantage. Quintiles are used here for comparison (for more information, see Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas).

Between 2020-2024:

• Substance abuse was more commonly mentioned as a risk factor as relative disadvantage increased.
  • Between the highest level of advantage and the lowest level of advantage (most disadvantaged) there was a difference of 11.6% for mentions of acute psychoactive substance use and intoxication and a difference of 9.5% for mentions of chronic psychoactive substance abuse disorders.
  • Acute psychoactive substance use was mentioned in nearly twice as many suicide deaths for those with the lowest level of advantage (most disadvantaged) compared to those with the highest level of advantage.
  • For mentions of acute alcohol use and intoxication there was a difference of 3.7% between the highest and lowest levels of relative advantage, and for chronic alcohol abuse disorders there was a difference of 3.1%.
• As socio-economic advantage increased mentions of some specific mental health conditions including mood disorders (including depression) and anxiety disorders also increased. However, mentions of schizophrenia was more likely as relative disadvantage increased.
• As relative socio-economic advantage increased, there was more likely to be mentions of problems related to employment, sleep issues and prophylactic measures for COVID-19 (an analysis of COVID-19 as a risk factor for suicide deaths registered in 2019-2023 can be found in Suicide in the COVID-19 Pandemic in Causes of Death, 2023).
• As relative socio-economic disadvantage increased, there was more likely to be mentions of problems related to legal circumstances, relationships, medical treatment refusal and noncompliance and housing. 

Recent improvements in the identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in ABS mortality data have led to the inclusion of Victoria in the reporting of deaths due to suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Following a review by the ABS in 2024, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander origin was updated for suicides registered in Victoria from 2018. Suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a usual residence of Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory are not included in line with national reporting guidelines. Data is presented for five jurisdictions (excluding Victoria) and six jurisdictions (including Victoria) to enable measurement of change in reporting. For more detail, refer to Technical Note: The impact of using multiple sources for deriving the Indigenous status of deaths in 2023 – changes for Victoria and coroner referred deaths | Australian Bureau of Statistics.

In 2024, 298 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people died by suicide acoss the six jurisdictions. 

• Their median age was 34.5 years (35.3 years for males and 31.2 years for females).
• Suicide was the fifth leading cause of death.
• New South Wales had the highest number deaths due to suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. South Australia had the lowest number.
• When adjusted for population size and age-structure, Western Australia had the highest suicide rate (both crude and age-standardised).

To enable comparison of suicide rates over time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, age-standardised death rates for Australian states and territories are presented in the table below. Analysis of year-to-year changes in this population should be treated with caution due to annual fluctuations in jurisdictions with small numbers of deaths, as well as administrative changes in the identification of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the mortality dataset. 

Key points:

• The largest increase in the suicide rate between 2023 and 2024 was recorded for those residing in Western Australia followed by New South Wales.
• The suicide rate was similar between 2023 and 2024 for those residing in Victoria (an increase of 0.1) and Queensland (a decrease of 0.1).
• The number of suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South Australia for 2023 and 2024 was similar (23 in 2023 and 21 in 2024). Rates may be more volatile than for other jurisdictions with a higher number of deaths.

To enable comparison of suicide rates over time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, age-standardised death rates for males, females and all persons are presented in the graph below. Upper and lower bounds (confidence intervals) are included to show the potential variability of the annual suicide rates and can be used in measuring statistical significance in annual rate change.

• The 2024 suicide rate was 6.5% higher than the 2023 rate.
• The steepest increase occurred between 2021 and 2022, with another increase between 2022 and 2023. This corresponds with a change in methodology for deriving Indigenous status, leading to more deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people being recorded. This is an administrative change. The suicide rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was more constant between 2018-2021.

In 2024, there were 237 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males who died by suicide. 

• Suicide was the second leading cause of death.
• The median age at death was 35.3 years.
• 79.5% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who died by suicide were male.

In 2024, there were 61 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females who died by suicide.

• Suicide was the 10th leading cause of death.
• The median age at death was 31.2 years.
• The number of registered deaths due to suicide decreased for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females from 2023.

With the addition of deaths registered in Victoria from 2018:

• Crude death rates increased marginally.
• The effect was similar for both males and females.

Age-specific death rates provide insights into how suicide manifests across age cohorts by relating the number of deaths to the size and structure of the underlying population.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who died by suicide between 2020 and 2024:

• Over three quarters (75.9%) were aged between 15-44 years.
• For males, the highest suicide rate was for those aged 35-44 years at 81.0 deaths per 100,000 people.
• For females, the highest suicide rate was for those aged 25-34 years at 27.5 deaths per 100,000 people.
• Across all age groups, males had a suicide rate over double that of females.

Deaths of children by suicide is an extremely sensitive issue. The number of deaths of children attributed to suicide can be influenced by coronial reporting practices. Reporting practices may lead to differences in counts across jurisdictions and this should be considered when interpreting analysis of suicides in children. For more information on issues associated with the compilation and interpretation of suicide data, see Deaths due to intentional self-harm (suicide). In the following analysis, children are defined as those aged between 5 and 17 years of age. The ABS is not aware of any recorded suicides of children under the age of 5 years.

Across the six jurisdictions during the five-year period 2020-2024:

• There were 70 suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
• The suicide rate was 5.2 deaths per 100,000 children.
• Suicide was the leading cause of death for female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
• For male Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, suicide was the second leading cause of death after land transport accidents.
• 21.0% of deaths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were due to suicide.
• Over three quarters (75.7%) of Aboriginal and Torres strait islander children who died by suicide were aged 15-17 years.
• For more information on suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children see Table 11.12 in Data Cube 11 in this publication.

Most data in Causes of Death, Australia is reported by year of registration. A benefit of this approach is that once a registration year is finalised, the time series remains unchanged. The year a death is registered most often is in the same year a death occurs and deaths by registration year mostly closely align with deaths by occurrence year. For example, the number of suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people occurring in 2023 was 283 and the number of deaths registered was 283. However, there is some variability across jurisdictions. 

In some cases, data by year of occurrence may be preferred, as it reflects when deaths happened rather than when they were registered. However, year of occurrence data takes longer to be complete because for some deaths, there can be long periods between the time of death, its registration, and the cause of death being finalised. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, delays in the registration of death may be related to factors such as remoteness of location and accessibility of administrative processes.

The table below shows the number of suicides by year of occurrence until the end of 2023. The table includes deaths that have undergone demographic and cause of death coding and were identified as being due to suicide. Deaths occurring in 2024 have been excluded as further increases are expected once 2025 coding is complete.