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Suicide rates: An overview

Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 82-624-10
past Tanya Navaneelan

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Highlights

• In 2009 at that place were iii,890 suicides in Canada, a charge per unit of 11.5 per 100,000 people.
• The suicide rate for males was three times higher than the rate for females (17.9 versus 5.3 per 100,000).
• Although suicide deaths affect virtually all age groups, those anile 40 to 59 had the highest rates.
• Married people had a lower suicide rate than those who were single, divorced or widowed.

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Suicide is a major cause of premature and preventable expiry. Information technology is estimated, that in 2009 lone, in that location were about 100,000 years of potential life lost to Canadians under the age of 75 as a upshot of suicides.

Research shows that mental affliction is the most important gamble factor for suicide; and that more ninety% of people who commit suicide have a mental or addictive disorder.^{1, ii} Depression is the about common illness among those who die from suicide, with approximately 60% suffering from this condition.^{3, 4} No single determinant, including mental disease, is plenty on its own to crusade a suicide. Rather, suicide typically results from the interaction of many factors, for example: mental illness, marital breakdown, financial hardship, deteriorating physical health, a major loss, or a lack of social back up.⁵

This article presents the latest statistics on suicide,^half-dozen looking primarily at trends and variations past sexual practice, age and marital condition. The master source of data is the Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database.⁷

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The Canadian Vital Statistics Death Database collects demographic and cause of expiry information annually from all provincial and territorial vital statistics registries on all deaths in Canada.^twenty Suicide data from this source are somewhat under-reported due to the difficult nature of classifying suicide and the time lag in determining this as the cause of death, which may vary from year to year and from ane region to another.^17,18,xix,21

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Males commit suicide at a higher rate than females

In 2009, there were approximately 238,000 deaths in Canada, of which three,890 were attributed to suicides. This resulted in a suicide rate of eleven.5 deaths per 100,000 people. During that year, a full of 2,989 males committed suicide (17.nine deaths per 100,000) compared to 901 females (5.three deaths per 100,000). As these data bear witness, males were three times more likely to commit suicide than females.

The much higher rate of male suicide is a long-term design in Canada. At all points in fourth dimension over the past 60 years, males have had higher rates of suicide than females (Chart i). For both sexes, suicide rates remained fairly stable in the 1950s and then steadily rose between the 1960s and 1980s where information technology peaked in 1983 at 15.i per 100,000 (age-standardized charge per unit).^eight Since and then, rates take dropped to 10.vii deaths per 100,000 in 2009. While male person suicide rates have been generally decreasing since 1999, female rates appear to have stabilized.

Chart i
Age-standardized suicide rate, per 100,000, by sex, Canada, 1950-2009

Deaths past suicide, it should be noted, reflect only a minor pct of suicide attempts. It is estimated that for every completed suicide there are as many as xx attempts.⁹Although males are more probable to die from suicide, females are iii to four times more likely to effort information technology.^ten,11 Furthermore, females are hospitalized for attempted suicide 1.5 times more than frequently than males.¹²

This discrepancy may be due to the fact that females tend to use less fatal methods,⁵ such as poisoning—the most common cause of cocky-harm hospital admissions—whereas males tend to use more violent methods such as hanging and firearms (Chart 2).¹²

Methods of suicide vary past sex activity and historic period

Over the past ten years, the nearly common method of suicide in Canada has been hanging (44%), which includes strangulation and suffocation; followed past poisoning (25%) and firearm use (16%).

Males were most likely to commit suicide by hanging (46%) while females near often died by poisoning (42%) (Chart ii). Males (20%) were far more probable to use firearms than females (3%).

Chart 2
Percentage distribution of method used in suicide, by sex, Canada, 2000-2009 (ten year average)

Fifty-fifty though hanging has been the most common method of suicide, information technology declined with age; 55% of xv to 39 yr-olds died equally a result of hanging, compared with 30% of those aged 60 and older. The percentage of suicides involving a firearm, on the other hand, increased with age; 12% of xv to 39 used a firearm, compared with 26% of those aged 60 and older (Chart 3).

Variability in the method as well increased with historic period. While most immature people (15 to 39 years sometime) committed suicide past hanging, at that place was greater variability in the method of those aged forty and older.

Chart 3
Percentage distribution of method used in suicide, by age group, Canada, 2000-2009 (10 year boilerplate)

The highest rates of suicide occur during mid-life

When suicide deaths are examined across age groups, persons aged 40 to 59 accept the highest rates (Chart 4). Forty-5 pct of all suicides in 2009 (1,769 out of a full of 3,890) were in this age grouping, compared with 35% for those aged 15 to 39, and 19% for those over the age of lx. This has been a persistent trend in Canada, yet contrasts with suicide trends in many other countries where the charge per unit of suicide tends to increase with age.^{2, 9}

Chart 4
Suicides per 100,000, past age group and sex, Canada, 2009

Suicide is a leading crusade of death in young people

Suicide is i of the leading causes of death for people of all ages. In 2009, it ranked as the ninth leading cause of death in Canada. Among those aged xv to 34, suicide was the second leading cause of decease, preceded only by accidents (unintentional injuries).

Considering they exercise non generally die from natural causes, suicide represents a relatively large percentage of all deaths for younger age groups (fifteen to 34). After the age of 35, suicides as a proportion of all deaths kickoff to turn down every bit other causes get more common (Chart 5).

Chart 5
Suicides as a per centum of all deaths, by age group and sex, Canada, 2009

In 2009, 202 individuals aged 15 to 19 committed suicide. This represented almost a quarter (23%) of all deaths in this historic period group, upward from 9% in 1974. The relatively college proportion of suicide deaths for this historic period group is due to the turn down in overall bloodshed rates, a trend driven mainly by declines in accidental deaths which continue to be the leading cause of death for 15 to nineteen year olds. Despite the progress in reducing deaths from accidents, all the same, suicide rates for this age group did not change significantly during this period (Chart six).

Nautical chart six
Historic period-specific bloodshed with suicide and accident rates, per 100,000, ages 15 to xix, Canada, 1974 to 2009

Married people are the least likely to commit suicide

For both men and women, married people were the least likely group to commit suicide. Single (never married) people were the most likely, at a charge per unit three.three times higher, followed by widowed and divorced (Nautical chart vii). Single men were much more than likely to die from suicide than those who were married. Among women, widows had highest rates of suicide. The social support and companionship provided by marriage may exist of import atmospheric condition that help decrease the probability of suicide.^thirteen

The differences according to marital status may partially business relationship for the higher rate of suicide among people aged 40 to 59 as people transition from married to divorced and widowed. While marriage provides a protective effect across all age groups, suicide rates amidst the divorced and widowed are particularly high for those aged 40 to 59 years. Divorced people in this age grouping have a suicide charge per unit one.7 times higher than divorced people of other ages.

Widowhood also appears to have a greater outcome on the heart-aged; the suicide rate in the widowed aged xl to 59 years is 2.1 times college than for the widowed 60 and older. Finally, single people 40 to 59 have double the suicide rates compared to singles of other ages.

Chart 7
Historic period-standardized suicide rates, past marital status and sex, 2007

Previous research has found an clan between the break-up of a union (or co-habiting human relationship) and increased risk of depression, the most common mental health disorder amongst people who commit suicide.¹⁴ Given the human relationship between marital breakdown and depression, and the association between depression and suicide, suicide rates were plotted with the divorce rates for the period 1950-2008. The trend lines prove a similar pattern (Nautical chart 8). This finding is consistent with other studies which take found correlations between suicide and divorce in Canada.^xv,16

Chart eight
Divorce and suicide rates, per 100,000, Canada, 1950 to 2008

During the 1950s, divorce and suicide rates were fairly stable, but both began to rise during the 1960s. In 1968, Parliament passed the Divorce Act which established a federal-level divorce police force. In the following year the divorce rate increased by 128%, and equally Chart 8 shows, suicide rates moved in the same direction. In 1986 the Divorce Act was amended, reducing waiting times from 3 years of separation to one. This resulted in 1987 having the highest rate of divorce in Canadian history. This increase in divorces was paralleled by an increase in suicide rates. Later the 1987 spike in the divorce rate, both divorce and suicide rates accept seen a similar decline.

Summary

Using vital statistics to explore different aspects of suicide in Canada has shown that males are far more than likely to commit suicide than females. Looking at suicides by historic period group for both sexes, the highest suicide rates were plant in those anile 40 to 59. However, suicide ranks second equally a leading cause of decease for people anile 15 to 34. Looking at suicide deaths by marital status revealed significantly lower rates for married people, and at that place is a compelling parallel between historical trends for suicide and divorce. This finding would benefit from farther research.

Tanya Navaneelan is an analyst with the Wellness Statistics Division. The author wishes to acknowledge Shiang Ying Dai, Teresa Janz, Bob Kingsley, Brenda Wannell and Patricia Forest for their contributions.

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References

1. Weir E. Suicide: The hidden epidemic. Canadian Medical Association Journal. 2001;165(five):634.
2. Mościcki EK. Epidemiology of completed and attempted suicide: Toward a framework for prevention. Clinical Neuroscience Enquiry. 2001;1:310-23.
3. Cavanagh JT, Carson AJ, Sharpe K. Psychological autopsy studies of suicide: A systematic review. Psychological Medicine. 2003;33:395-405.
4. Lesage AD, Boyer R, Grunberg F. Suicide and mental disorders: a case-command study of young men. American Periodical of Psychiatry. 1994;151:1063-8.
5. Health Canada. Suicide in Canada: Update of the written report of the task force on suicide in Canada. 1994.
6. Suicide (intentional self-harm) was divers according to the World Health System "International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Bug (ICD). Suicide cases were defined as deaths in which cause of death was classified equally one of the following (depending on ICD revision used at fourth dimension of death): X60-X84, Y87.0 (ICD-10); E950-959 (ICD-9); E950-E959 (ICDA-8).
7. For all data sources, the most recent available data is used.
8. Age-standardizing removes the upshot of changes in the age-structure of a population by presenting the rates equally they would occur if the age structure matched that of a reference population (and therefore remained the aforementioned over fourth dimension). This article uses the age structure of Canada's 1991 census equally its reference population.
9. Globe Wellness Organization. Suicide Prevention (SUPRE). Bachelor at: world wide web.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suicideprevent/en. Accessed May 15, 2012.
10. Mościcki EK. Gender differences in completed and attempted suicides. Register of Epidemiology. 1994; 4: 152-158.
11. Chang B, Gitlin D, Patel R. Emergency Medicine Practice, 2011 Sep;13(9):1-23; quiz 23-4. The depressed patient and suicidal patient in the emergency department: evidence-based direction and handling strategies.
12. Langlois S, Morrison P. Suicide deaths and suicide attempts. Wellness Reports. 2002;13(2):9-21.
13. Kposowa AJ. Marital status and suicide in the National Longitudinal Mortality Report. Periodical of Epidemiology and Community Wellness. 2000;54:254-61.
14. Rotermann M. Marital breakdown and subsequent low. Health Reports. 2007;eighteen(two):33-42.
15. Leenaars AA, Lester D. Domestic integration and suicide in the provinces of Canada. Crisis. 1999;20(two):59-63.
16. Travato F. A longitudinal analysis of divorce and suicide in Canada. Periodical of Marriage and the Family. 1987;49:193-203.
17. Speechley M, Stavraky KM. The adequacy of suicide statistics for use in epidemiology and public health. Canadian Journal of Public Health. 1991;82:38-42.
18. Malla K, Hoenig J. Differences in suicide rates: An test of under-reporting. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 1983;28:291-three.
19. Edwards Northward, Alaghehbandan R, MacDonald D. Suicide in Newfoundland and Labrador: A linkage report using medical examiner and vital statistics information. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2008;53(4):252-59.
20. For more data on the CVS:D or the Vital Statistics Program please see: http://world wide web.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/imdb/p2SV.pl?Part=getSurvey&SDDS=3233&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2.
21. Young J, Wagner J. Speaking for the dead to protect the living: The role of the coroner in Ontario. Wellness Reports. 1994;half-dozen(ix):339-352.

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