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

On this page

• Across Canada
• Differences by age and sex
• Suggested citation

Across Canada

Suicide-related behaviours can include:

• suicide attempts
• making suicide plans
• having thoughts of suicide

Preventing these behaviours requires effective monitoring to:

• see changes over time
• identify populations at greater risk
• support and advance effective suicide prevention efforts

The data presented on this page is likely an underestimation due to the stigma associated with suicide-related behaviours.

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Among people living in Canada who are aged 15 and older:

• almost 1 million will attempt suicide
• 1.3 million will make suicide plans
• 3.8 million will have serious thoughts of suicide

Each year, it is estimated that among those aged 15 and older:

• 0.3% have attempted suicide
• 0.8% made suicide plans
• 2.6% had serious thoughts of suicide

Suicide-related behaviours vary across Canada. Some provinces and territories have a higher prevalence than the national average.

Figure 1. Prevalence of people 15 years and older who in their lifetime, in Canada by province and territory, ...

Notes

• Data is from the 2019 and 2020 Canadian Community Health Surveys.
• An 'E' next to a percentage shows that this data has a high level of variability. Interpret with caution.
• 'Suppressed' means that the estimate wasn't released for the province or territory due to high variability.

• Learn more:
  • Canadian Community Health Survey: Annual component

Figure 1: Text description

Differences by age and sex

Among people aged 15 to 19 years old, prevalence of lifetime suicide-related behaviours are higher in females than males. Specifically, compared to males:

• suicide attempts are 5 times higher in females
• suicide plans are almost 4 times higher in females
• serious thoughts of suicide are 2 times higher in females.

Figure 2. Prevalence of people 15 years and older who in their lifetime, in Canada by age group and sex, ...

Notes

• Data are from the 2019 and 2020 Canadian Community Health Surveys.
• An ‘E’ next to a percentage shows this data has a high level of variability. Interpret with caution.

• Learn more:
  • Canadian Community Health Survey: Annual component

Figure 2: Text description

Suggested citation

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