Suicide and Self-Harm Monitoring

Authors: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

Overview

Suicide is the leading cause of death among Australians aged 15–24 (see Deaths in Australia). The proportion of all deaths that are deaths by suicide is relatively high among children and young people. This is because people in these age groups do not tend to die from other causes. Data are presented by year of registration, which is not necessarily the same as the year the death occurred. 

In 2022:

• 304 Australian young people (aged 18–24 years) took their own lives
• 77 deaths by suicide occurred among children and adolescents (aged 17 and below) with the majority occurring in those aged 15–17 (83.1%)
• deaths by suicide represented 30.9% of all deaths in young people aged 15–17 years and 32.4% of all deaths in those aged 18–24 years—up from 16.5% and 23.9% respectively of all deaths in these age groups in 2001. In children aged 14 and below, the proportion of all deaths that are deaths by suicide is low compared with the two older age groups. In 2022 deaths by suicide represented 0.9% of all deaths in children aged 14 and below.