Throughout the world there are close to 800,000 people dying each year from suicide, which is one person every 40 seconds.
Suicide is known as Australia’s silent killer.
Suicide is still considered a taboo subject and surrounded by stigma and shame which is preventing people from seeking assistance or discussing the issue.
There are often warning signs for suicide and the more people are aware of them the more can be done to prevent self-harm.
There are resources available to assist but often it is often only when the issue of suicide is at a crisis point that help is sought.
Identifying suicidal warning signs and finding appropriate assistance can save lives.

Suicide in Australia

Every day about 9 Australians die by suicide and an attempt is made every 7 minutes. For every death by suicide, it is estimated that as many as 30 people attempt to end their lives. The estimate of suicide attempts each year is over 65,000.
The 2019 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports 3,318 people died from suicide.
More attempts are made by females but more than 3 out of every 4 deaths from suicide are male.
Nationally in 2019, the deaths from suicide were over twice the number of deaths on our roads.
Using the ‘Years of Potential Life Lost’ (YPLL) measure, the potential years of life lost for all Australians dying by suicide in 2018 was estimated to be a total of 105,580 years.
Suicide costs our nation more than $17 billion every year.
Regional and rural areas are at greater risk.
The rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suicide remains twice as high as the general population.
Studies recognise the LGBTIQ community is at higher risk of suicidal behaviours.

Suicide in the Mackay Region

Last updated October, 2019

Identifying suicide warning signs and finding appropriate assistance has been proven to save lives!