Male Suicide is Finally Trending Down

There’s positive signs male suicide is finally trending down.For the first time since the Suicide Prevention Australia Community Tracker began quarterly reporting on suicide related behaviour in 2022, the stats have swung in the right direction...Suicidal thoughts, plans and attempts have all reduced.According to the latest national report for September:Serious thoughts of suicide: 19% → 13%Making a suicide plan: 6% → 3%Attempting suicide: 2% → 1%Overall suicidal behaviour: 27% → 17%Help-seeking is up...Almost a third of all Australians reached out to a support provider in the past 12 months, an increase of 10 percentage points since this time last year.Barriers remain:31% of men in high distress didn’t seek support because they thought it wasn’t serious enough (vs 25% of women)28% of men tried to manage it on their own (vs 37% of women)4% of men said they didn’t know what support was available (vs 13% of women)We’re taking action to look after ourselves.Seven out of ten Aussies report taking at least one action in the past year to support their health and wellbeing.40% worked out and ate better36% reached out to a friend28% practiced mindfulness When will suicide deaths start to drop?The decline in suicidality is yet to translate into a reduction of overall deaths. The latest available National ABS Provisional Mortality Statistics show there were 3,214 suicides in Australia in 2023 - 75% were male.

Updated statistics for 2024 are expected this October.Whether overall suicide deaths are going down yet or not, these latest figures show progress worth being optimistic about.

You can find the full report here: https://www.suicidepreventionaust.org/community-tracker