New Zealand suicide rate remains unchanged in latest data

The Office of the Chief Coroner released the annual provisional suspected suicide data today. Photo / 123rf

Warning: This article discusses suicide. If you need help, contact Lifeline on 0800 543 354 or text 4357 (HELP).

The number of lives lost to suspected suicides has increased in the past year, rising from 551 in the year to June 2022 to 565 the following year.

The data, released today by the chief coroner for the year to June 2023, shows the suspected suicide rate was 10.6 per 100,000 people or 565. This compares with 10.5 per 100,000 or 551 people in the year prior

Acting director of the Suicide Prevention Office Dr Sarah Hetrick said suicide had a devastating impact on whānau and reducing the rates required a government-wide response that addressed structural determinants such as poverty, racism, discrimination and post-colonial legacy.

“We collect, use and publish this suicide information as an important way to understand how we are progressing towards an Aotearoa that does not experience suicide. However, first and foremost we must acknowledge the devastating impact on whānau bereaved by this experience,” Hetrick said.

“We also need to reduce exposure to factors that increase the risk of suicide such as violence of all types, alcohol-related harm, stand-down and exclusion from schools and harmful communication about self-harm and suicide.”

Māori are more likely to die by suicide than non-Māori. Although the latest data shows a slight decrease in the suspected suicide rates for Māori, the rate is still higher than other ethnicities. In the year to June 2023, the rate for Māori was 15.8 per 100,000, three times higher than the latest rates for Asian and Pacific populations.

The chief coroner said there had been a “statistically significant reduction” in the rates for Pacific populations, which is now 5.1 per 100,000 people, down from 9.2 for the year ending June 2022.

Men are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than females. The suspected suicide rate for men in the year to June 2023 was 15.2 and 6 per 100,000 for females.

The new data represents all deaths in New Zealand suspected to be suicides. The data is provisional because before a death can be legally described as a suicide, a coroner must rule that the death was self-inflicted.