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The suicide rate is higher in one age group than in others: from the age of 70.
Photo: ozgurcankaya / Getty Images
The percentage of suicides has decreased worldwide over the past 30 years.
This is the result of an analysis of international data published online in the scientific journal Injury Prevention.
The total number of deaths caused by suicide rose by around 20,000 in the period under review - but this is a decrease in relation to the growing population.
According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), around 800,000 people commit suicide every year around the world, with many more attempting suicide.
The current analysis by the Chinese researchers led by Paul Siu Fai Yip also shows that suicides play a particularly large role in one age group: in almost all regions of the world, the suicide rate was highest among those over 70 years of age.
This is a problem for a global society that is getting older.
There are big differences around the world
For the survey, the researchers used data from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2019. This study contains population estimates for 204 countries and territories for the period between 1950 and 2019, broken down by location, age and gender.
Information was also collected on 369 diseases and injuries from 1990 to 2019 by age and gender.
The researchers examined the influence of age structure and population growth on the suicide rate and itemized the results for four income regions defined by the World Bank: a region with a low income, one with a lower middle income, one with an upper middle income and a region for a high income.
Does gender have an impact on the suicide rate?
Specifically, they found that while the suicide rate worldwide in 1990 was 13.8 per 100,000 people, it had fallen to 9.8 per 100,000 people by 2019.
The absolute number of suicide deaths rose from 738,799 in 1990 to 758,696 in 2019.
And there are differences between the sexes: among men, the rate fell from 16.6 to 13.5 per 100,000 within the period studied.
For women, the proportion fell from 11 to 6.1 per 100,000 - and thus more than for men.
The income is relevant
The income structure also proved to be formative: According to the researchers, the share of suicides fell the most in the upper-middle-income countries - by 6.25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
In second place were the lower middle income countries, with a decrease of 2.51 per 100,000.
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"The reasons for the significant decline in suicide rates in all income regions have yet to be determined," the researchers wrote.
Global efforts by WHO and the United Nations to promote national suicide prevention initiatives may have played a role, they suspect.
The "rapidly aging population" is a challenge
The age effect was also clearly evident: in the group aged 70 and over, the proportion of suicides was above average, spread across all income regions.
The analysis states: "Since suicide rates among older people are highest for both sexes in almost all regions of the world, the rapidly aging population worldwide will represent a major challenge for reducing the number of suicide deaths in the future."
But especially in regions of the world with low and middle incomes, it is necessary to provide more support and more resources for suicide prevention.
In addition, in view of the rapidly aging world population in all income regions, suicide prevention among older people is becoming increasingly important.
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