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 2025:

• 2,425 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 45.5 years. 
• Nearly three-quarters (73.9%) of people who died by suicide were male.
• The crude suicide rate was 17.7 deaths per 100,000 people.
• The age-standardised suicide rate was 17.3 deaths per 100,000 people. This is a decrease from the age-standardised suicide rate in 2024 which was 18.4 deaths per 100,000 people.

For females in 2025:

• There were 858 deaths due to suicide.
• Suicide was the 27th leading cause of death. 
• The median age at death for those who died by suicide was 43.8 years. 
• The crude suicide rate was 6.2 deaths per 100,000 people.
• The age-standardised suicide rate was 6.0 deaths per 100,000 people. This is an increase from 2024 when the age-standardised death rate was 5.6 deaths per 100,000 people. The age-standardised suicide rate was also 6.0 deaths per 100,000 people in 2023. 

In 2025:

• Three-quarters of people who died by suicide had a usual residence in New South Wales, Victoria or Queensland. These are the three most populace states and territories.
• The Northern Territory had the highest age-standardised suicide rate at 18.6 deaths per 100,000 people. It was over 2.4 times higher than the suicide rate in the Australian Capital Territory (7.7 deaths per 100,000 people), which was the jurisdiction with the lowest rate in 2025. 

The tables below present the number and age standardised suicide rates by state or territory of usual residence from 2016 to 2025. 

• From 2024 to 2025, the suicide rate increased in Tasmania to 17.7 deaths per 100,000 people. This is the second highest suicide rate in Tasmania in the ten-year time series. 
• In Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory, the 2025 suicide rate was similar to that recorded in 2024. 
• In New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, the 2025 suicide rate was the lowest in the ten-year time series. Suicide data for 2025 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 2024 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 2025:

• 82.2% of people who died by suicide were aged under 65 years.
• People who died by suicide had a median age of 45.0 years compared to 81.9 years for all deaths.
• The proportional distribution of those aged under 20 years who died by suicide differed for males and females:
  • For females, 8.2% of suicides occurred in those aged under 20 years.
  • For males 3.8% of suicides occurred in those aged under 20 years.

In 2025: 

• Males aged 45-49 years had the highest age-specific suicide rate (26.8 deaths per 100,000 people). The proportion of suicides occurring in this age group was 9.0%.
• Males aged between 35-39 years accounted for the highest proportion of deaths due to suicide (10.7%). The age-specific suicide rate for this age group was 26.0 deaths per 100,000 people. 
• Males aged over 85 years had the fourth highest rate. This is a change from the last 10 years where it has been the age group with the highest rate, except for 2023 when it was the second highest rate. 

Between 2024 and 2025:

• Males aged 80-84 years had the largest increase in their age-specific suicide rate (up 4.7 deaths per 100,000 people). 
• There was a decrease in the age-specific suicide rate for males across most age groups. 
• Males aged over 85 years had the largest decrease in their age-specific suicide rate (down 7.2 deaths per 100,000 people). 

• Females aged 55-59 years had the highest age-specific suicide rate (9.0 deaths per 100,000 people). The proportion of suicides occurring in this age group was 8.3%.
• Females aged between 40-44 years accounted for the highest proportion of deaths due to suicide (9.6%). The age-specific suicide rate for this age group was 8.5 deaths per 100,000 people. 

Between 2024 and 2025:

• Females aged 75-79 years had the largest increase in their age-specific suicide rate (up 2.5 deaths per 100,000 people).
• There was an increase in the age-specific suicide rate for females in all age groups under 25 years. 
• Females aged between 70-74 years had the largest decrease in their age-specific death rates (down 2.7 deaths per 100,000 people).

Suicide accounted for the highest number of years of potential life lost among leading cause groups 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 aged under 78, but fewer years of potential life lost.

In 2025:

• Suicide was the leading cause of death for those aged between 15-44 years. 
• Suicide was the leading cause of premature mortality with 108,674 years of potential life lost.
• A person who died by suicide lost on average 35.3 years of life. 

For males who died in 2025:

• Suicide was the leading cause of premature mortality with 78,539 years of potential life lost.
• Those who died by suicide lost on average 34.5 years of life.

For females who died in 2025:

• Suicide was the leading cause of premature mortality with 30,145 years of life lost. Until 2020, breast cancer was the leading cause of premature mortality for females, but was surpassed by suicide in 2021 to 2023, and now 2025.
• Those who died by suicide lost on average 37.7 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 2025: 

• Suicide was the leading cause of child death in Australia. 
• There were 100 children who died by suicide, accounting for 21.1% of child deaths. This is an increase from 2024, when 70 deaths of children were recorded as being due to suicide.
• The age-specific suicide rate was higher for females aged 5-17 years compared to males. For those aged over 18 years, the rate was higher for males compared to females. 
• Males had a suicide rate of 2.1 deaths per 100,000 children (47 deaths).
• Females had a suicide rate of 2.5 deaths per 100,000 children (53 deaths).
• 84.0% of children who died by suicide were aged 14-17 years (84 deaths).
• Suicide data for 2025 is preliminary. Data may change as part of the revisions process.

• The sex ratio for children aged 5-17 years was 0.89 males per female death. This compared to a sex ratio of 2.83 for people of all ages who died by suicide.
• For the first time since 2012, there were more female compared to male suicides in those aged 5-17 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.

Country of birth uses the Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC). See Classifications in the methodology for more detail. Deaths without a recorded country of birth are excluded. 

For the 5-year period 2021 to 2025, 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 14.5 deaths per 100,000 people which is 1.8 times higher than the suicide rate for those born overseas which was 7.9 deaths per 100,000 people. The largest difference was when compared with 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 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 13.0 deaths per 100,000 people.
• Those with a country of birth in the region of Southern and Central Asia had the lowest suicide rate, at 4.1 deaths per 100,000 people. Those born in this region also had the lowest median age at death at 35.2 years.
• The regions of North Africa and the Middle East, South-East Asia and Southern and Central Asia 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 for those who died by suicide (by number of suicide deaths) in Australia in 2021-2025. 

• Those born in England had the highest number of suicides (725 deaths) across 2021 to 2025. 
• When adjusted for population size and age-structure, those with a country of birth of Northern Ireland had the highest suicide rate (21.0 deaths per 100,000 people) 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 2021-2025. This graph is presented by the highest age-standardised death rate. For the 5-year period 2021 to 2025, those born in Northern Ireland, Wales, Kenya, Russian Federation, New Zealand, Scotland and Bosnia and Herzegovina had a higher suicide rate than those born in Australia.

Occupation data was coded for the first time in 2024 using the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) 2024. More detail is included in the in the classification section of the methodology and Occupation coding for coroner referred deaths section of the Deaths from external causes publication. Occupation data is considered experimental and limitations should be considered when interpreting the data.

Occupation information does not include reference to workplace or mechanism of death. Death registrations may include reports of current or previous occupations. Deaths that could not be coded to an occupation group have been assigned a supplementary code.

The tables below show the number of deaths due to suicide in 2025 based on the occupation reported on the death registration. 

In 2025:

• For males who died by suicide, technicians and trades workers was the most commonly reported major occupation group (25.8% of suicides in males). This was the most common occupation across all age groups.
• For females who died by suicide, professionals was the most commonly reported major occupation group (20.2% of suicide in females). For younger age groups in females (15-44 years) the most commonly reported occupation group was community and personal service workers.

2021 Census data coded to OSCA has been used to create crude rates based on the population reporting employment in an occupation group at the time of completing the Census. Age specific rates have also been calculated for those aged between 15-64 years. Death registrations may include reports of current or previous occupations. Census occupation data is based on work at the time of completing the 2021 Census. Rates should be interpreted with caution.

• For males aged 15-24 years, the highest suicide rate was for machinery operators and drivers. In those 25-54 years the highest rate was for labourers and for males aged over 55 years the highest was for technicians and trades workers. 
• For females the suicide rate was highest for technicians and trades workers in most age groups except those 25-34 years where the rate of community and personal service workers was higher.

The below table ranks the top 10 sub-major occupations groups reported for suicide deaths in 2025 (excluding supplementary codes). Sub-major groups sit below major groups with the same first digit (e.g. 26 Health professionals is a sub-category of 2 Professionals). Residual categories have been excluded e.g. where additional detail beyond the major group was not provided.

• The top 10 occupation sub-major groups are entirely different for males and females. Of the top 10 sub-major occupation groups for all persons, 7 were also in the male top 10 and 3 were in the female top 10.
• The highest number of suicides for males by reported sub-major group was road and rail drivers. The highest rate was for skilled animal, agricultural and horticultural workers (71.3 deaths per 100,000 people) followed by building structural trades workers (67.2 deaths per 100,000 people). These are both in the major occupation group of technicians and trades workers. 
• While labourers have the highest suicide rate by major occupation group for males, only construction and mining labourers appear in the most common sub-major groups. This is because on a death registration the term “labourer” is commonly recorded with no further information and cannot be further categorised by occupation sub-group. Specific labouring professions are likely to be under-reported in the table below. 
• For females the highest number of suicides by reported sub-major group was health professionals. The highest suicide rate was for cultural and social professionals (47.2 deaths per 100,000 people). Both occupations are part of the major group of professionals. While the rate for health professionals was comparatively low (15.6 deaths per 100,000 people), of the females reporting an occupation in the 2021 Census, 9.3% were coded as health professionals compared with 0.9% for cultural and social professionals.

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 2021-2025. Classes of remoteness are characterised by a measure of relative geographic access to services (for more information, see Remoteness Areas). This means that while all states and territories have a capital city, they may not be categorised as having a “major city”. 

All suicide rates are age-standardised to account for the different population and age structure of people residing in each remoteness area. Tables combine data for remote and very remote Australia due to small numbers. 

In the five-year period 2021-2025:

• The suicide rate is higher as remoteness increases. The age standardised suicide rate in remote and very remote Australia was between 20.9 and 24.7 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 9.8 and 10.9 deaths per 100,000 people).
• 2025 suicide rates in both major cities and outer regional Australia were similar to 2024.

• The suicide rate for males living in remote and very remote Australia in 2025 was almost double the rate for males living in major cities.
• Males living in remote and very remote Australia had the largest decrease in their age-standardised suicide rate from 2024 to 2025 (down 11.4 deaths per 100,000 people). 

• Though 2025 suicide data is considered preliminary, suicide rates for females living in remote and very remote Australia are the highest in the 5-year time-series.
• The suicide rate increased in all remoteness areas except for outer regional Australia. 
• From 2021-2024 suicide rate in remote and very remote Australia was between 1.5 and 1.8 times that of the suicide rate in major cities. In 2025, the suicide rate in remote and very remote Australia was 2.7 times the rate in major cities. 

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 2021-2025. A low score (quintile 1) indicates areas with relatively greater disadvantage and a lack of advantage in general. A high score (quintile 5) indicates areas with a relative lack of disadvantage and greater advantage in general. SEIFA data is based on area of usual residence aligned to the 2021 Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). Quintiles are used here for comparison (for more information, see Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas). Data excludes persons for which SEIFA was missing or not reported. All suicide rates are age-standardised to account for the different population and age structure of people in each quintile. 

In 2025, the number of suicides and the suicide rate were highest among people living in areas with the lowest level of socio-economic advantage (quintile 1). The suicide rate was 2.4 times that of people living in areas with the highest level of socio-economic advantage (quintile 5). 

In the five-year period 2021-2025:

• The male suicide rate for those within the least advantaged quintile (1) was between 2.5 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 1.9 and 2.2 times higher than the female suicide rate in the most advantaged quintile (5).
• Across all years for both males and females, the suicide rate is higher as relative disadvantage increases.

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 2024. The table includes some deaths coded as being due to suicide that occurred 2016 to 2024 but were registered in 2025 and 2026. 

In 2025: 

• 84.5% of people who died by suicide had at least one risk factor reported at the time of preliminary coding. This proportion is likely to increase as coronial investigations are finalised.
• Psychosocial risk factors were the most reported type of risk factor, present in close to three-quarters (72.4%) of deaths of people who died by suicide. 
• People who died by suicide had an average of 4.7 risk factors mentioned.

For suicides across 2021-2025:

• The most common risk factors each year were mood disorders, followed by suicide ideation and problems in spousal relationship circumstances. 
• Personal history of self-harm and anxiety and stress related disorders were also in the top five most common risk factors across these years. 
• Psychoactive substance abuse disorders (chronic and acute) continue to be more commonly mentioned than alcohol abuse disorders. 
• Across 2021 to 2023, acute alcohol use was reported more often than chronic or acute psychoactive substance abuse disorders.

The risk factors experienced by a person can differ depending on age. For suicides registered in 2025:

• Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor overall, and in those aged between 45-84 years.
• Suicide ideation was the most common risk factor for those aged under 25 years and was mentioned as a risk factor in almost a third of suicide deaths 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 or wish 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.
• Problems in spousal relationship circumstances became the most common risk factor for suicide deaths in those aged 25-44 years. In 2024, problems in relationships was the third most common risk factor for this group. Problems in spousal relationships includes separation and divorce as well as arguments and domestic violence situations.
• Suicides of children (aged 5-17 years) increased by 30 deaths from 2024. The most common risk factors included:
  • problems related to education and literacy (29.0%)
  • suicide ideation (28.0%)
  • problems in relationships with family and friends (28.0%)
  • personal history of self-harm (25.0%)
  • problems related to social environment including atypical living and parental situations, social exclusion, discrimination and bullying (25.0%).

Chronic psychoactive substance use was recorded as a factor in 19.5% of suicides and acute use in 17.9%. 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 or long-term chronic health impacts. Common drugs reported included psychostimulants (including methamphetamine) and hallucinogens (including cannabis).

In 2025:

• Those aged 25-44 years were most likely to have issues with psychoactive substance use mentioned as a risk factor (present in 26.0% of suicides as acute use and intoxication and in 29.2% as chronic use).
• For those aged 25-44 years, acute and chronic psychoactive substance use was a more common risk factors than acute or chronic alcohol use.

Alcohol use was recorded as a factor in 16.1% of suicides for both acute use and chronic use. Alcohol use can affect a death due to suicide in several ways such as causing respiratory depression (especially when used in combination with other drugs), affecting judgement and decision-making processes or causing long-term health impacts.

In 2025:

• 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 19.9% of suicides in this age group).
• Chronic alcohol abuse disorders was most mentioned as a risk factor for those aged 25-44 years and 45-64 years (present in 18.4% of suicides for both age groups).

In 2025 the median age for suicide deaths was 45.0 years. Risk factor median ages are based on the age at death and the prevalence of each risk factor. In 2025:

• The highest median age at death was seen for those with problems related to care provider dependency (74.5 years). 
• Higher median ages at death were also seen for those with limited activities due to disability, pain and those with chronic health conditions (including malignant neoplasms, ischaemic heart disease and musculoskeletal disorders). These risk factors are more likely to impact quality of life for those in older age cohorts.
• The lowest median age at death was for those with chronic and acute psychoactive substance use and abuse (38.0 years). 
• Lower median ages at death were more likely in those with problems related to relationships and legal circumstances.

For males in 2025: 

• Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor, reported in 33.9% of male suicide deaths. This was the most reported risk factor for males aged 45-84 years. 
• Those aged under 25 years were most likely to have suicide ideation mentioned as a risk factor. This was reported in over a third of suicide deaths for males in this age group.
• 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 substance abuse, including:
  • chronic psychoactive substance abuse disorders (31.2%)
  • acute psychoactive substance use and intoxication (26.7%)
  • acute alcohol use and intoxication (21.4%).
• 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 relationship circumstances, present in 28.6% of suicides overall and most mentioned as a risk factor for those aged between 25-44 years (36.6%). 
• 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. It was the most common of all risk factors mentioned for males age 25-44 years.
• In 2025, the highest male suicide rate was in those aged 45-49 years. While this group had similar risk factors reported, they were often more common. For example: 
  • mood disorders were reported in 40.8% of suicide deaths, compared with 33.9% for all ages 
  • problems in spousal relationship circumstances were reported in 35.3% of suicide deaths compared with 28.6% for all ages
  • problems related to legal circumstances was reported in 27.1% of suicide deaths compared with 18.6% for all ages.

For females in 2025:

• Mood disorders (including depression) were the most common risk factor, being captured in 40.9% of all female suicides. Mood disorders were the most mentioned risk factor for those aged 25-84 years.
• 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 reported for females in 40.6% of suicide deaths for those over 85 years, and 36.0% for those under 25 years.
• The most common psychosocial risk factor was personal history of self-harm, present in 36.0% of female 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.
• In 2025, the highest female suicide rate was in those aged 55-59 years. While this group had similar risk factors reported, the prevalence was often different to all ages. For example: 
  • mood disorders were reported in 49.3% of suicide deaths, compared with 40.9% for all ages 
  • death of a family member or person in the primary support network was reported for 22.5% of suicide deaths compared with 13.4% for all ages
  • pain was reported in 21.1% of suicide deaths compared with 9.3% for all ages.

Psychosocial risks are psychological, social and environmental factors which may adversely influence an individual's health status. Psychosocial codes have been adapted from ICD-10 Chapter 21 Factors Influencing Health Status and Contact with Health Services.

In 2025:

• The most common psychosocial risk factors mentioned in suicide deaths for males and females were the same for males and females. This included history of self-harm, problems with family and social relationships or legal circumstances.
• Some psychosocial risk factors were more likely to be recorded in males or females. For example, males were more likely to have factors related to work such as unemployment, threatened or actual job loss. Females were more likely to have factors related to experiences of violence such as being a victim of a crime or a personal history of physical trauma.
• Personal history of self-harm was more likely to be mentioned in younger age groups. For suicide deaths in those under 25 years it was mentioned in 23.9% of male deaths and 45.6% of female deaths.
• For females under 25 years, educational maladjustment and discord with teachers and classmates and bullying was reported more often than for males under 25 years.

Over a quarter of Australia’s population live in regional and remote areas, where suicide rates are higher than those observed in major cities. Factors contributing to higher 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 2021-2025, grouped by remoteness areas (Major Cities of Australia, Inner Regional Australia, Outer Regional Australia, Remote and Very Remote Australia). Tables combine data for remote and very remote Australia due to small numbers. Classes of remoteness are characterised by a measure of relative geographic access to services (for more information, see Remoteness Areas).

Between 2021-2025:

• Those living in major cities were more likely to have a specified mental health condition mentioned than those who lived in regional or remote Australia. These included mood disorders (including depression), anxiety disorders, and schizophrenia. 
• Substance abuse was most mentioned as a risk factor for those living in remote and very remote Australia. This included:
  • Acute alcohol use and intoxication (mentioned in 35.5% of suicides of those living in remote and very remote areas)
  • Acute psychoactive substance use and intoxication (mentioned in 31.2%)
  • Chronic psychoactive substance abuse disorders (mentioned in 24.1%)
  • Chronic alcohol abuse disorders (mentioned in 20.8%).
• Acute substance use and intoxication was 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 isolation) 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 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 2021-2025 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 2021-2025:

• Substance abuse was mentioned more as a risk factor as relative disadvantage increased. 
  • Between the highest level of advantage and the highest level of disadvantage there was a difference of 11.7% for mentions of acute psychoactive substance use and intoxication and a difference of 9.9% 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 highest level of disadvantage compared to those with the highest level of advantage. 
  • For mentions of acute alcohol use and intoxication there was a difference of 4.3% between the highest and lowest levels of relative advantage, and for chronic alcohol abuse disorders there was a difference of 3.9%. 
• Increased reports of mood disorders (including depression) and anxiety disorders showed in areas of increased socio-economic advantage. Schizophrenia and schizotypal conditions was reported less often, but more common in areas where relative disadvantage increased. 
• As relative socio-economic advantage increased, there was more likely to be mentions of problems related to employment, the social environment or sleep. 
• As relative socio-economic disadvantage increased, there was more likely to be mentions of problems related to legal circumstances, relationships and personal support networks. 

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 from 2018. 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.

In 2025, 312 suicides of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were registered across the six jurisdictions. 

• The median age at death was 33.8 years (34.5 years for males and 31.8 years for females).
• Across the jurisdictions the median age of death was the lowest in the Northern Territory (20.8 years) and the highest in New South Wales (37.8 years).
• Suicide was the fifth leading cause of death.
• New South Wales had the highest number of 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 and between jurisdictions of different population sizes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, age-standardised death rates for states and territories are presented in the table below. Analysis of year-to-year changes 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 overall annual suicide rate (for both 5 and 6 jurisdictions combined) has been increasing over time. This includes over the last three to four years where consistent processes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identification has been applied. 
• The largest increase in the suicide rate between 2024 and 2025 was recorded for those residing in Queensland (an increase of 8.5) followed by Western Australia (an increase of 6.0).

The largest rate decrease was in Victoria, where the suicide rate decreased from 36.5 to 24.9 deaths per 100,000 people.

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 total suicide rate in 2025 was 2.2% higher than 2024.
• 67.0% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who died by suicide were male. This is a change from 2024 when 79.9% of suicide deaths were males. 
• The suicide rate for females has increased from 13.0 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024 to 21.5 in 2025.
• The suicide rate for males has decreased from 55.7 deaths per 100,000 people in 2024 to 44.8 in 2025. The suicide rate in 2024 was the highest in the 10-year time series. The suicide rate in 2025 is similar to 2023.

In 2025, there were 209 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males who died by suicide in the 6 jurisdictions. 

• This was a decrease of 30 deaths from 2024. For the first time since 2012, suicide has moved from the second to third leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander males. The second leading cause of death is now Chronic lower respiratory diseases (J40-J47) which had an increase of 54 deaths from 2024.
• The median age at death was 34.5 years.

In 2025, there were 103 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females who died by suicide.

• Suicide was the 6th leading cause of death.
• The median age at death was 31.8 years.
• The number of registered deaths due to suicide increased by 43 deaths for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander females from 2024.