[1] The World Health Organization reported the 2019 age standardised suicide rate in Australia at 11.3 per 100,000 people per year.
[5] Suicide rates are generally higher amongst males, rural and regional dwellers, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
[17] Researchers have attributed the difference between attempted and completed suicides among the sexes to males using more lethal means to end their lives.
The easy accessibility to firearms, lower socio-economic lifestyle and increased level of social isolation, all add to the higher rate of male suicide in rural Australia.
Youth of indigenous, rural or refugee backgrounds, as well as those in welfare, have been observed as having a higher rate of committing suicide.
The data collected by the ABS may underestimate the suicide rate, because people may kill themselves in such a manner that can be mistaken as an accidental death.
[26]: 1 In 1992, the National Health and Medical Research's Working Group was founded to examine suicide prevention in Australia.