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.
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.
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.
Deaths by suicide classified by year of occurrence and sex 2011-2019 | |||
Year | Male | Female | Total |
2011 1 | 472 | 99 | 571 |
2012 1 | 475 | 110 | 585 |
2013 1 | 437 | 107 | 544 |
2014 1 | 471 | 106 | 577 |
2015 1 | 390 | 107 | 497 |
2016 1 | 429 | 101 | 530 |
2017 1 | 399 | 111 | 510 |
2018 1 | 399 | 141 | 540 |
2019 1 | 408 | 116 | 524 |
1 Figures for years 2011 to 2019 inclusive have been revised from time of each Annual Report |
Standardised suicide rates | Standardised male suicide death rate | Standardised female suicide death rate | Standardised total suicide death rate |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | 21.1 | 4.1 | 12.5 |
2012 | 21.8 | 4.8 | 13.1 |
2013 | 20 | 4.7 | 12.3 |
2014 | 21.2 | 4.6 | 12.8 |
2015 | 17.7 | 4.7 | 11.1 |
2016 | 18.9 | 4.2 | 11.5 |
2017 | 17.6 | 4.7 | 11 |
2018 | 17.4 | 5.9 | 10.8 |
2019 | 17.6 | 4.7 | 11 |
EU-28 | Standardised EU 28 suicide rate by rank |
---|---|
Cyprus | 4 |
Greece | 4.5 |
Malta | 5.2 |
Italy | 5.9 |
Slovakia | 7.2 |
United Kingdom | 7.4 |
Spain | 7.5 |
Luxembourg | 9.3 |
Portugal | 9.6 |
Bulgaria | 9.7 |
Romania | 9.9 |
EU-28 Average | 10.1 |
Denmark | 10.4 |
Germany | 10.5 |
Ireland | 11 |
Netherlands | 11.2 |
Poland | 11.7 |
Sweden | 12 |
France | 12.7 |
Czech Republic | 13 |
Austria | 13.8 |
Croatia | 14.8 |
Finland | 15 |
Belgium | 15.4 |
Hungary | 16.6 |
Estonia | 17.2 |
Latvia | 17.9 |
Slovenia | 19.5 |
Lithuania | 26 |
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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.”