The Chief Coroner has published the country's suicide statistics this afternoon – but she warns they shouldn't be compared to other countries. Photo / Thinkstock
The Chief Coroner has published the country's suicide statistics this afternoon – but she warns they shouldn't be compared to other countries. Photo / Thinkstock
WARNING: This story discusses suicide.
The number of people dying by suicide has increased this year, but the overall rate has still decreased over the past 16 years, according to the latest data.
The Coroners Court and Health NZ released the latest annual provisional suicide statistics today, showing “nostatistically significant changes in the rate of suspected self-inflicted deaths” over the past year.
For the 2024-25 year, 630 suspected self-inflicted deaths were recorded across the country, a rate of 11.0 per 100,000.
While the number of deaths has slightly increased, the rate has also dropped slightly – this represents a 3.1% decrease compared to the 16-year average.
Chief Coroner Judge Anna Tutton said every life lost to suicide was a tragedy.
“I offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends of all those who have died as a result of suspected suicide in the past year.”
Judge Tutton said that sharing court data with government agencies, the mental health sector and the community assisted in the ongoing work to prevent suicide.
“Suicide is a complex issue, driven by a range of factors, and coroners continue to highlight support services available in the hope that greater awareness will encourage people to seek help for themselves or others struggling with their mental wellbeing.”
The latest Ministry of Health Suicide Prevention Action Plan sets out 21 health-led new actions and 13 cross-agency new actions to prevent suicide.
Kiri Richards, the ministry’s associate deputy director-general of mental health, said the plan would guide Government efforts to prevent suicide over the next five years.
Actions included establishing a suicide prevention community fund, rolling out peer support roles in eight hospital emergency departments for people presenting with mental health and addiction needs, and establishing six crisis recovery cafes to provide more options for people experiencing distress.
Health NZ national director of mental health and addiction Phil Grady.
Other initiatives in the plan focus on growing the suicide prevention workforce and equipping communities to support people experiencing suicidal distress; providing safer and more supportive environments for people experiencing distress; and improving the effectiveness of suicide prevention efforts and the understanding of suicide.
Health NZ national director of mental health and addiction Phil Grady said the statistics reinforced the importance of ongoing suicide prevention efforts and equitable mental health support.
“Funding to support these actions is growing from $20 million spent each year on suicide prevention, with an additional $16m per year being allocated to improve access to mental health and suicide prevention supports through initiatives identified in the plan.”
The suicide data web tool presents both confirmed and suspected suicide data by sex, age, ethnicity and district of residence.
According to the figures, Māori males had the highest rates of suspected suicides during the past 16 years.
The rate of suspected suicides for Māori males was 28.1 per 100,000 Māori male population in the 2024-25 financial year.
This was roughly twice that of non-Māori males, who had a rate of 14.2 per 100,000 non-Māori male population.
There continue to be more male suicides than female, with 474 male suspected suicides and 156 female in the 2024-25 financial year.
The figures showed the rate of suspected suicides for males was 16.2 per 100,000 males compared to 5.8 per 100,000 for females.
Aoake te Rā – Free, brief therapeutic support service for those bereaved by suicide. Call 0800 000 053.
Jaime Lyth is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, focusing on crime and breaking news. Lyth began working under the NZ Herald masthead in 2021 as a reporter for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei.
