The global suicide rate has fallen since the 1990s, but the death toll is still high

Even after years of working with global health data, one statistic that I’m always struck by is the number of people who die by suicide every year. In 2023, it was estimated to be around three-quarters of a million.That means suicides account for more than 1 in every 100 deaths in the world.But a world where so many die from suicide is not inevitable. We know this because global suicide rates have fallen by an estimated 40% since the 1990s.You can see this in the chart: rates have fallen from 15 to 9 deaths per 100,000 people over the last thirty years.The large differences between countries also suggest that there are things that can be done to reduce this number even further.Banning particularly toxic pesticides is one effective way to reduce suicide deaths in low- to middle-income countries; I looked at this in detail in a recent article.