Global suicide rates have dropped by 30% since 1990 – but not in the United States

Suicide rates have decreased considerably worldwide in recent decades. However, some countries, including the United States, have rates that are increasing along the opposite trend lines, putting the world at the origin of the 2030 World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce suicides by a third party.

Between 1990 and 2021, the world suicide rate dropped by almost 30%, going from around 10 deaths per 100,000 people to around seven deaths per 100,000 people, according to an analysis of Jiseung Kang at the University of Korea in South Korea and its colleagues. They collected data on suicide deaths from 102 countries using the WHO mortality database.

“Many countries are increasingly recognizing that suicide is avoidable,” said Paul Nestadt at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. As such, more of them have adopted policies to reduce suicides, such as the restriction of access to pesticides, firearms or certain drugs – and these policies seem to have succeeded.

Suicide rates have decreased on all continents except the Americas, where rates have increased by more than 11% since 2000. There, suicide has increased in several countries, including Mexico, Paraguay and the United States. Between 2000 and 2020, the suicide rate in the United States has gone from around 9.6 deaths to 12.5 deaths per 100,000 people. Researchers believe that this is due to an increase in firearm suicides and the effects on the mental health of the 2008 financial crisis.

Meanwhile, suicide rates have regularly decreased in Asia and Europe, and those of Oceania and Africa fell before overthrowing the course between 2010 and 2015. However, while rates have been decreasing in Europe for decades, the region had the highest suicide rate in 2021 with almost nine deaths per 100,000 people. And Africa had the lowest at three deaths per 100,000.

This is probably due to the differences in data collection. Many European countries, for example, have solid systems to capture and report deaths by suicide, which contributes to clarifying public health policy. “But it also means that they will show much higher rates than African countries or parts of Asia where few resources are dedicated to capture [suicides]”Explains Nestadt.

Suicide rates were also significantly higher in high -income countries than in low and intermediate income countries, which could be summed up in surveillance systems. Cultural differences can also play a role, since some countries stigmatize suicide more than others. This means that some suicides may not be recorded as such, explains Nestadt.

Previous studies have found similar reductions in world suicide rates, but this is the first analysis to include data from the first years of the COVVI-19 pandemic. Many public health experts feared that suicides will jump during the pandemic, as more and more people have experienced unemployment, isolation and loss of dear beings. “Basically, it was a perfect storm for suicide,” said Nestadt. “And yet, what ended up happening is that suicide rates have indeed dropped.” The world suicide rate dropped on average by around 1.5% each year between 2010 and 2019. But during the pandemic, it decreased at a rate of almost 1.7%.

“We tend to see – not always – a drop in suicide with national tragedies or major global disasters,” explains Nestadt. “There is a sense of this is not going to be good. We expect it to be good.” Many governments also provide support during crises, such as crisis lines, improving access to mental health care and financial aid. “So, no doubt, from the point of view of suicide, it was a success in many ways how we managed the pandemic,” he said.

If current trends continue, researchers believe that the world suicide rate will fall even more by 2050, at less than 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

“These are not inevitable deaths. Many, many, many of them are avoidable, ”explains Nestadt. “When we see that there are places that have done something good, which leads to saved lives, which is encouraging.”

Need an ear to listen? UK Samaritans: 116123 (samaritans.org); US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988 (988lifeline.org). Visit bit.ly/suicidehelplins for services in other countries.