The Top 5 Countries With The Highest Suicide Rates

  Country Suicide Rate
(age standardized)
Number of Suicides
(2012)
% Change
(from 2000 to 2012)
1 Republic of Korea 36.6 per 100,000 17,908 + 109.4%
2 Guyana 34.8 per 100,000 1,007 - 8.5%
3 Shri Lanka 28.8 per 100,000 6,170 - 45.4%
4 Lithuania 28.2 per 100,000 1,007 - 37.2%
5 Suriname 27.2 per 100,000 145 + 40.4%
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 Special Report
  1. An estimated 804,000 suicide deaths occurred worldwide in 2012, representing an annual global age-standardized suicide rate of 11.4 per 100,000 population (15.0 for males and 8.0 for females). There are indications that for each adult who died of suicide there may have been more than 20 others attempting suicide. (a.)
  2. Every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world and many more attempt suicide. Suicide is the second leading cause of death globally among young people 15-29 years of age. (a.)
  3. In richer countries, three times as many men die of suicide than women, but in low- and middle-income countries the male-to-female ratio is much lower at 1.5 men to each woman. (a.)
  4. Globally, suicides account for 50% of all violent deaths in men and 71% in women. With regard to age, suicide rates are highest in persons aged 70 years or over for both men and women in almost all regions of the world. (a.)
  5. The ingestion of pesticide, hanging and firearms are among the most common methods of suicide globally, but many other methods are used with the choice of method often varying according to population group. (a.)
Top 5 facts sources:
  1. (a.) World Health Organization Report. (2014).: "Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative."
Tags: Death Statistics, Health Statistics, Top 5 Highest

Sources:  World Health Organization (mental health division) Report: "Preventing Suicide: A Global Imperative."

List Notes: Data is the top 5 countries with the highest age standardized suicide rate (ASR) per 100,000 population for both sexes for the year 2012 which is the latest available data as of April 2016. Percent change is from the years 2000 to 2012. Some data are estimates. Data are from In 172 WHO Member States with populations of 300,000 persons or more. These estimates represent the best estimates by the WHO for suicide data, computed using standard categories, definitions and methods to ensure cross-country comparability, and may not be the same as official national estimates. The estimates are rounded to the appropriate number of significant figures.
Countries With The Highest Suicide Rates

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