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Suicide Statistics 2019

The number of suicides in Ireland increased by 5.4% to 524 persons in 2019 compared with 497 such deaths in 2015

Online ISSN: 2009-6747
CSO statistical publication, , 11am
Late Registrations

All deaths attributable to external causes are referred to the Coroner’s Court. As such, these deaths are registered after the three-month deadline, and often much later than the twenty-two months deadline for annual publications, e.g. the impact of late registrations on suicide statistics is growing as can be seen from the table in the Background Notes.

Key Findings

  • In 2019, there were 524 deaths from suicide in Ireland, 16 fewer than in 2018, but 14 more than in 2017 when there were 510 such deaths.

  • Male suicides rose by 4.6% from 390 in 2015 to 408 in 2019, while female suicides were 8.4% higher in 2019 at 116 compared with 107 such deaths recorded in 2015.

  • There were 116 female suicides in 2019, which represented an annual decrease of 17.7% since 2018. However, 2018 recorded the highest number of female deaths from self-harm since CSO records began in 1950, at 141.

  • The standardised suicide rate in 2017 (latest available data) was 10.1 per 100,000 of population for the EU-28 Member States compared with 11.0 in Ireland. The rate was highest in Lithuania at 26.0 and lowest in Cyprus at 4.0. The comparable rate for the United Kingdom was 7.4.

  • Among young males, aged under 25 years, suicide was the number one cause of death in 2019. For females in the same age bracket, suicide was the third highest cause of death for the same period.

  • More than one-third of suicides in Ireland between 2015-2019 were by persons aged 45-64 years, while one in ten deaths from self-harm were by persons aged 65 years and older.

  • For the period 2015-2019, the occurrence of suicides increased in three regions: Dublin (+46%), Mid-West (+14%), and South-West (+5%). Four of the regions reported a decrease: South-East (-18%), Border (-16%), West (-10%), and Mid-East (-8%), while the Midlands region was unchanged.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (09 September 2022) released the Suicide Statistics 2019 release to coincide with tomorrow's World Suicide Prevention Day.

Commenting on the release, Gerard Doolan, Statistician in the Vital Statistics Division, said: “Suicide was the number one cause of death in 2019 for young males aged under 25 years and was the third highest cause of death amongst females.

Young males, aged under 25 years, accounted for nearly the same percentage (13.7%) of all male suicides in 2019 as those aged 65 years or older (13.2%). The proportional age breakdown for females in those same age categories was very different, with females under 25 years accounting for 18.1% compared with those aged 65 or older at 5.2% of all female suicides in 2019.

In the last five years, female deaths from self-harm increased by 8.4% from 107 deaths in 2015 to 116 deaths in 2019. In Dublin, the female deaths increase was 95% (from 19 deaths to 37) and on an annual basis from 2018, the increase was 37% (27 deaths to 37). For males, suicides in the West region have declined consistently since 2015 and were 21% lower (42 deaths to 33) in 2019.

The age-standardised death rate from suicide was 11.0 deaths per 100,000 in 2019, up from 10.8 in 2018. Male suicide rates were more than three and a half times higher at 17.6 deaths per 100,000 compared with female suicide rate of 4.7 in 2019. In the years from 2011 to 2017, rates were generally between 4 to 5 times higher for men than for women.”

Support Information

Visit www.yourmentalhealth.ie for information on how to mind your mental health, support others, or to find a support service in your area. You can also call the HSE Your Mental Health Information Line on 1800 111 888, anytime day or night, for information on mental health services in your area. If you are struggling to cope, please call Samaritans for free on 116 123 (Ireland and UK), available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The Pieta House helpline team are available to help 24 hours a day, every day of the year and can be contacted on 1800 247 247 or by texting HELP to 51444.

Headline Table

Deaths by suicide classified by year of occurrence and sex 2011-2019
YearMale Female Total
    
2011 147299571
2012 1475110585
2013 1437107544
2014 1471106577
2015 1390107497
2016 1429101530
2017 1399111510
2018 1399141540
2019 1408116524
1 Figures for years 2011 to 2019 inclusive have been revised from time of each Annual Report

Ireland Standardised Suicide Rate

  • For females in Ireland in 2019, the standardised suicide rate was 4.7 per 100,000 of population, up from 4.1 per 100,000 of population in 2011.
  • The standardised suicide rate for males in Ireland in 2019, was 17.6, down from 21.1 per 100,000 of population in 2011.
  • For the period 2011-2019, the years with the highest standardised suicide rate recorded for each sex was in 2012 for males at 21.8, while for females it was the year 2018 with a rate of 5.9.
  • The years with the lowest standardised suicide rate recorded for each sex was 2018 for males at 17.4, while for females it was the year 2011 with a rate of 4.1.
  • Within age groups, male suicide rates were highest in the 50-54 age-group (19.5 per 100,000) while women were highest in the 55-59 age-group (6.3 per 100,000).
  • The number of deaths from self-harm decreases after the age of 49.
Standardised suicide ratesStandardised male suicide death rateStandardised female suicide death rateStandardised total suicide death rate
201121.14.112.5
201221.84.813.1
2013204.712.3
201421.24.612.8
201517.74.711.1
201618.94.211.5
201717.64.711
201817.45.910.8
201917.64.711
Table 1 Unadjusted and standardised suicide death rates by year of occurrence and sex, 2011 - 2019

EU-28 Standardised Suicide Rate

  • The standardised suicide rate in 2017 (latest available data) was 10.1 per 100,000 of population for the EU-28 Member States compared with 11.0 in Ireland.
  • The rate was highest in Lithuania at 26.0 and lowest in Cyprus at 4.0. The comparable rate for the United Kingdom was 7.4. 
  • In terms of ranking for the EU-28 Member States, Ireland had the 14th lowest at 11.0 across the Member block.
Table 2 Standardised suicide death rate 2017 EU-28 Member States (Per 100,000 population)

EU-28Standardised EU 28 suicide rate by rank
Cyprus4
Greece4.5
Malta5.2
Italy5.9
Slovakia7.2
United Kingdom7.4
Spain7.5
Luxembourg9.3
Portugal9.6
Bulgaria9.7
Romania9.9
EU-28 Average10.1
Denmark10.4
Germany10.5
Ireland11
Netherlands11.2
Poland11.7
Sweden12
France12.7
Czech Republic13
Austria13.8
Croatia14.8
Finland15
Belgium15.4
Hungary16.6
Estonia17.2
Latvia17.9
Slovenia19.5
Lithuania26

Suicide and Age

  • Among young males, aged under 25 years, suicide was the number one cause of death in 2019, accounting for 22% of total deaths in that age category.
  • Suicide, accounted for 15% of all female deaths aged under 25 years, and was the third highest cause of death in 2019.
  • Where suicide wasn't the number one cause of death for either males or females aged under 25 years in the years 2015-2019, suicide was predominantly the highest ranked cause behind deaths due to Congenital Malformations and Neonatal deaths.
  • More than one-third of suicides in Ireland between 2015-2019 were by persons aged 45-64 years, while one in ten deaths from self-harm were by persons aged 65 years and older.
  • Young males under the age of 25 accounted for 13% of total male suicides between 2015 and 2019, while females in the same age bracket accounted for 17% of total female suicides.
Table 3 Deaths by suicide classified by age-group and sex, 2015 - 2019

Table 3a Deaths by suicide for persons ages under 25 by sex, 2015-2019

Table 4 Deaths from Intentional Self-harm (suicide) by method classified by year and sex, 2015 - 2019

Suicide and Regions

  • In 2019, more than one in four victims of suicide in Ireland was from Dublin. Females in the Dublin region however, accounted for a higher proportion of national female suicides at nearly one in three.
  • The South-West region recorded one in six of all deaths from self-harm in Ireland in 2019, while the area accounted for just one in ten of total female suicides. 
  • For the period 2015-2019, the occurrence of suicides increased in three of the eight regions in Ireland: Dublin (+46%), Mid-West (+14%), and South-West (+5%).
  • Four of the regions in Ireland reported a decrease in the total number of suicides for the period 2015-2019: South-East (-18%), Border (-16%), West (-10%), and Mid-East (-8%).
  • The Midlands region was unchanged in the total number of suicides in 2019 compared to 2015.
Table 5 Deaths by suicide classified by region and sex, 2015 - 2019