The global suicide rate dropped by a third between 1990 and 2016, a new analysis shows.

A study in the British Medical Journal has found that while the actual number of deaths from suicide increased by 6.7 per cent between 1990 and 2016, because of an increase in the global population, the actual rate of suicide dropped by 33 per cent.

The rate fell from 16.6 deaths per 100,000 people in 1990 to 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016.

While this is undoubtedly good news researchers point out that rates vary widely between regions as well as between income groups.

Also, because people are unwilling to report deaths by suicide in some lower and middle income countries the rate could be higher.

Suicide was the leading cause of death in high income countries in the Asia Pacific region and was also among the top 10 leading causes of death in eastern Europe, central Europe, Australasia and high-income parts of North America.