- More than 800,000 people die by suicide in the world each year, which is roughly one death every 40 seconds. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death in the world for those aged 15-24 years.
- The question ‘Why did they take their life?’ is complex and may never be fully resolved. The most honest answer is that we don’t fully understand it.
- The factors associated with suicide are varied and complex. Predicting who will take their life is extremely difficult, even for experienced professionals
- Suicide is the result of actions taken to deal with intolerable mental anguish and pain, fear or despair that overwhelms an individual’s value for living and hope in life.
- While there is a well-established link between suicide and depression, each suicide occurs in a unique mix of complex interconnected factors, individual, environmental, biological, psychological, social, cultural, historical, political and spiritual, including psychological trauma.
- In Ireland, national suicide statistics are provided by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). These annual figures are usually published with a delay of approximately two years or longer, as they happen after the inquest in Coroner’s Court.
- In 2020 there were 504 recorded deaths.
- The highest proportion of deaths were among people aged from 40 to 44 years.
- 72% of all suicides in Ireland in 2020 were males.