Suicide, self-harm, and suicide-related behaviours in Canada: Suicide mortality:

On this page

• Across Canada
• Over the years
• Differences by age and sex
• Method of suicide
• Suggested citation

Across Canada

Suicide prevention efforts across Canada are informed by data like:

• sex
• age
• methods used for suicide
• province or territory of residence

The statistics presented here are an underestimation of the true number of deaths by suicide, due to delays in reporting and potential misclassification.

The number of people and the age distribution in each province and territory are different. As such, the total number of deaths by suicide isn't a comparable measure of mortality across Canada. Instead, the age-standardized suicide mortality rate per 100,000 people is a more representative description of suicide mortality across Canada.

Suicide affects certain regions of Canada disproportionately. For example, some First Nations regions and all Inuit regions have suicide rates that are significantly higher than the national average.

Figure 1. Age-standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 people across Canada by province and territory, ...

Notes

• Age-standardized suicide mortality rates in Canada are from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database (2020).
  • Canada uses the 10^th revision of the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) for the cause of death.
  • Canada uses codes X60 to X84 and Y87.0 to identify deaths by suicide.
• The 2011 Canadian population is used as the standard population for calculating age-standardized suicide mortality rates.
• Data for this figure was extracted on October 25, 2023 and is from the 13-10-0800-01 table from Statistics Canada.
• The age-standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 people excludes Yukon.
• Due to reporting delays, currently available rates for the most recent years of data may be underestimated and will be subject to revision in the next year.

• Learn more:
  • Vital Statistics Death Database: Glossary
  • Deaths and mortality rate (age standardization using 2011 population), by selected grouped causes

Figure 1: Text description

Over the years

Overall, age-standardized suicide mortality rates have been relatively stable since 2008. Across the years, more males than females have died of suicide.

Figure 2. Age-standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 people in Canada by year and sex, ...

Hover over the line graph to see the suicide mortality rates by year and sex.

Notes

• Age-standardized suicide mortality rates are from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database (2006 to 2020).
  • Canada uses the 10^th revision of the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) for the cause of death.
  • Canada uses codes X60 to X84 and Y87.0 to identify deaths by suicide.
• The 2011 Canadian population is used as the standard population for calculating age-standardized suicide mortality rates for 2006 to 2020.
• The age-standardized suicide mortality rates per 100,000 people exclude Yukon from 2017 to 2020.
• Data for this figure was extracted on October 25, 2023 and is from the 13-10-0800-01 table from Statistics Canada.
• Due to reporting delays, currently available rates for the most recent years of data may be underestimated and will be subject to revision in the next year.
  • Use caution when drawing any conclusions about suicide trends.

• Learn more:
  • Vital Statistics Death Database: Glossary
  • Deaths and mortality rate (age standardization using 2011 population), by selected grouped causes

Figure 2: Text description

Differences by age and sex

Among males, the highest age-specific suicide mortality rates are among those aged:

• 50 to 64
• 80 or more

Among females, the highest age-specific suicide mortality rates are among those aged:

• 20 to 34
• 35 to 49
• 50 to 64

Figure 3. Age-specific suicide mortality rates per 100,000 people who died by suicide in Canada by year and sex, ...

Notes

• The age-specific suicide mortality rates in Canada are from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database (2020).
  • Canada uses the 10^th revision of the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) to code the cause of death.
  • Codes X60 to X84 and Y87.0 are used to identify deaths by suicide.
• Data for this figure was extracted on October 25, 2023 and is from the 13-10-0156-01 table from Statistics Canada.
• The age-specific suicide mortality rate is calculated using the number of deaths by suicide in a particular age group per 100,000 people for 2020 in Canada, divided by the population estimate of the same age group as of July 1, 2020 from Statistics Canada.
• The age-specific suicide mortality rate per 100,000 people excludes Yukon.
• Due to the low number of deaths in the 0 to 9 years age group, statistics for people under the age of 10 are excluded from this figure.

• Learn more:
  • Vital Statistics Death Database: Glossary
  • Deaths by cause, Chapter XX: External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01 to Y89) – Table 13-10-0156-01

Figure 3: Text description

Method of suicide

Information on the method of suicide can help prevention strategy efforts by acting on the availability and access to the means used for suicide.

The most frequent method of suicide used in both females and males is suffocation, while:

• males had a greater proportion of firearm deaths than females
• females had a greater proportion of deaths by self-poisoning than males

Figure 4. Proportion of persons who died by suicide in Canada, by most prevalent method and by sex, ...

Notes

• The number of suicide deaths by method used for suicide in Canada is from the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database (2020).
  • Canada uses the 10^th revision of the World Health Organization's International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10) to code the cause of death.
  • Codes X60 to X84 and Y87.0 are used to identify deaths by suicide.
• Data for this figure was extracted on October 25, 2023 and is from the 13-10-0156-01 table from Statistics Canada.
• The proportions of deaths by method and by sex are calculated using the number of people who died by suicide for each method as a percentage from all people who died by suicide, disaggregated by sex.
• ICD-10 codes are categorized for these methods used for suicide:
  • suffocation (X70)
  • firearm (X72-X75)
  • poisoning (X60-X69)
  • other (X71, X76-X84, and Y87.0)
• The proportion of deaths by method excludes Yukon.

• Learn more:
  • Vital Statistics Death Database: Glossary
  • Deaths by cause, Chapter XX: External causes of morbidity and mortality (V01 to Y89) – Table 13-10-0156-01

Figure 4: Text description

Suggested citation

Public Health Agency of Canada. Suicide, self-harm and suicide-related behaviours in Canada: .... Ottawa: Public Health Agency of Canada; ....