Indigenous Australia would have the 12th-highest suicide rate globally if it was ranked alongside the world's sovereign states.

With a suicide rate of 20.1 per 100,000, it would fall just behind India (21.1 per 100,000) and ahead of South Sudan (19.8 per 100,000) in the United Nations' global rankings for worst suicide rate, according to a Fairfax Media analysis. Guyana recorded the highest rate (44.2 per 100,000) while the lowest rate (0.4 per 100,000) was recorded jointly by Syria and Saudi Arabia.

Australia as a whole ranks 64th out of 171 countries, with a national rate of 10.6 suicides per 100,000.

About 560 Indigenous Australians of all ages died by suicide between 2008 and 2012, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's 2015 report on Indigenous health and welfare, released last month.