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A compilation of New Zealand suicide statistics for the period from 1978 to 1997 (with provisional data from 1998), produced as a reference source for policy makers and researchers concerned with reducing the death toll from suicide.

Selected facts from the publication:

Number of deaths

• There were 561 suicide deaths in 1997, an increase of 4 percent from 1996 when there were 540 deaths.
• Males accounted for over three-quarters of suicide deaths in 1997 (440 males, 121 females).
• There were 103 Māori deaths in 1997 (77 males and 26 females, accounting for 18 percent of suicide deaths.
• The highest number of male suicide deaths occurred in the age group 25–29 years, and for females, 15–19 years.

• The male suicide rate in 1997 was 22.3 per 100,000 population, an increase of 72 percent from 1978.
• The female suicide rate in 1997 was 6.0 per 100,000 population, a decrease of 14 percent from 1978.
• The Māori male suicide rate was 28 percent higher than the non-Māori male rate, while the Māori female rate was almost 60 percent higher than the non-Māori female rate.

• New Zealand males had the second highest suicide rate of 12 selected countries, behind Finland.
• New Zealand females had the fifth highest suicide rate of the 12 selected countries.

• The most common method of suicide for both males and females in 1997 was hanging.
• Hanging accounted for more than 40 percent of suicides in 1997 while poisoning by other gases and vapours (motor vehicle exhaust) accounted for 28 percent.

• There were 3567 hospitalisations for suicide and self-inflicted injury in 1997 (1343 males and 2224 females).
• In 1997 there were 504 Māori, 90 Pacific Island and 67 Asian hospitalisations for suicide and self-inflicted injury.
• Almost 80 percent of people hospitalised for self-inflicted injury in 1997 were routinely discharged, 16 percent went on to other facilities or community care, 4 percent were other types of discharge and 1 percent of people died in hospital.
• The majority of people (88 percent) had a single hospitalisation for self-inflicted injury in 1997, 10 percent had two or three hospitalisations and 1.5 percent had four or more hospitalisations in 1997.
• Poisoning by solid or liquid substances was the most common cause of self-inflicted injury hospitalisations in 1997, accounting for 81 percent of hospitalisations.

• Youth accounted for one-quarter of suicide deaths in 1997.
• There were 142 youth suicide deaths in 1997 compared to 141 deaths in 1996.
• Māori accounted for 25 percent of youth suicides in 1997 (36 deaths), Pacific Islanders 5 percent (7 deaths) and Asians 2 percent (3 deaths).
• From 1978 to 1997 the male youth suicide rate more than doubled, while the female rate in 1997 was almost four times the 1978 rate.
  
• The Māori male youth suicide rate decreased from 1996 to 1997 but the Māori female rate was identical over this period.
• New Zealand youth had the highest suicide rate of 12 selected countries in 1997.
• The most common method of youth suicide in 1997 was hanging (54 percent).
  
• Youth accounted for approximately one-third of hospitalisations for suicide and self-inflicted injury in 1997 (1175 hospitalisations).

For more recent information, see the suicide data in the Health Statistics section of this site.

The full publication can be downloaded as a PDF file (516 kB).

Alternatively, to order the printed publication, e-mail nzhis-pub@moh.govt.nz or contact the Publications Officer, NZHIS, PO Box 5013, Wellington, phone (04) 496 2000, fax (04) 496 2340.

Published 2001
89 pages, A4
A limited number of hardcopy publications are available free of charge
ISBN 0-478-24392-8 (print version)
ISBN 0-478-24395-2 (online version)