Graphic

World suicide rates by country

Below is a ranking of countries and the number of suicides per 100,000 people.

Click on table headers to sort alphabetically by name or numerically by rank. Country Suicide rates per 100,000 people Austria 13.8 Belgium 18.4 Britain 6 Canada 10.2 Czech Republic 12.7 Denmark 11.3 Finland 16.5 France 14.6 Germany 10.3 Greece 2.9 Hungary 21.0 Iceland 10.4 Italy 5.5 Japan 19.4 Luxembourg 9.5 Mexico 4.4 Netherlands 7.9 New Zealand 11.9 Norway 10.9 Poland 13.8 Portugal 8.7 Slovak Republic 10.9 South Korea 24.7 Spain 6.3 Sweden 11.1 United States 10.1

Notes: Data is for 2005.



Suicide rates: South Korea has the highest suicide rate among OECD countries. Greece has the lowest.



Gender gap: In Mexico, Poland and the Slovak Republic, for each female death there are at least five male deaths. By contrast, in Korea, the Netherlands and Norway there are two male suicides for each female death.



Age: Older people take their own lives more often than young people in Greece, Italy, Portugal and South Korea but the pattern is not general across the OECD.



SOURCE: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development By Dwuan June -- The Washington Post