Intentional self-harm and suicide
Citation
AIHW
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2023) Intentional self-harm and suicide, AIHW, Australian Government, accessed 04 October 2023.
APA
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2023). Intentional self-harm and suicide. Retrieved from https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/intentional-self-harm-and-suicide
MLA
Intentional self-harm and suicide. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 06 July 2023, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/intentional-self-harm-and-suicide
Vancouver
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Intentional self-harm and suicide [Internet]. Canberra: Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2023 [cited 2023 Oct. 4]. Available from: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/intentional-self-harm-and-suicide
Harvard
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2023, Intentional self-harm and suicide, viewed 4 October 2023, https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/injury/intentional-self-harm-and-suicide
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On this page:
Introduction
Causes of injury in hospitalisations for intentional self-harm
Causes of injury in deaths by suicides
Seasonal differences
Trends over time
Age and sex differences
Severity
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Remoteness
Data details
References
Related AIHW publications
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Suicide is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 15–44 (AIHW 2022). Males have a higher rate of death by suicide than females, while females have a higher rate of hospitalisation due to intentional self-harm. Along with falls, intentional self-harm is one of the two major causes of hospitalisation for injury where females outnumber males.
Intentional self-harm and suicide resulted in:
26,400 hospitalisations in 2021–22
105 per 100,000 population
3,100 deaths in 2020–21
12 per 100,000 population
This represents 4.9% of injury hospitalisations and 23% of injury deaths.
Determining if an injury was intentional is not always straightforward, especially when children are involved (see the technical notes). For this reason, statistics about hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm are presented here for children aged 14 and under as a group, and statistics about suicide are not presented for children aged under 10.
Causes of injury in hospitalisations for intentional self-harm
In 2021–22, 76% of intentional self-harm hospitalisations involved pharmaceutical drugs (Table 1).
Cause |
Hospitalisations |
% |
Rate (per 100,000) |
---|---|---|---|
Poisoning involving pharmaceuticals (X60–64) |
20,079 |
76 |
78.1 |
Sharp objects (including knives) (X78) |
3,500 |
13 |
14 |
Poisoning involving other substances (X65–69) |
959 |
4 |
3.7 |
Other or unspecified (X70–77, X79–84) |
1,843 |
7 |
7.3 |
Total |
26,381 |
100 |
103 |
Notes
- Rates are crude per 100,000 population, calculated using estimated resident population as at 31 December of the relevant year.
- Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
- Codes in brackets refer to the ICD-10-AM (11th edition) external cause codes (ACCD 2019).
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
For more detail, see Data tables B27–28.
Causes of injury in deaths by suicides
In 2020–21, the most common cause of injury in deaths by suicide was hanging, strangulation and suffocation (Table 2).
Cause |
Deaths |
% |
Rate (per 100,000) |
---|---|---|---|
Hanging, strangulation and suffocation (X70) |
1,860 |
59 |
7.2 |
Poisoning involving pharmaceuticals (X60–64) |
439 |
14 |
1.7 |
Jumping from a high place (X80) |
155 |
5 |
0.6 |
Firearm discharge or explosive material (X72–75) |
178 |
6 |
0.7 |
Other or unspecified (X65–69, X71, X76–79, X81–84) |
507 |
16 |
1.9 |
Total |
3,139 |
100 |
12.2 |
Notes
- Rates are crude per 100,000 population, calculated using estimated resident population as at 31 December of the relevant year.
- Percentages may not total 100 due to rounding.
- Codes in brackets refer to the ICD-10 external cause codes (WHO 2011).
Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.
For more detail, see Data tables E39–41.
Trends over time
Over the period from 2017–18 to 2021–22, the age-standardised rate of hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm declined by an annual average of 2.9%. From 2012–13 to 2016–17 it increased by an average annual of 3.6%.
There is a break in the time series for hospitalisations between 2016–17 and 2017–18 due to a change in data collection methods (see the technical notes for details).
For deaths by suicide, there was an average annual increase in rate between 2011–12 and 2020–21 of 0.9% (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Hospitalisations for intentional self-harm and deaths by suicide, by sex, by year
2 matching line graphs on separate tabs, 1 for hospitalisations and 1 for deaths. The 3 lines represent the trend for males, persons and females over 10 years. The reader can choose to display rate per 100,000 population or number.

For more detail, see Data tables C1–3 and F1–4.
Seasonal differences
Hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm show some seasonal patterns. There are dips in December and April (Figure 2).
The interactive display illustrates other seasonal variations in injury hospitalisations.
Figure 2: Seasonal differences in hospitalisations for intentional self-harm, 2019–20 to 2021–22
Notes
- Admission counts have been standardised into two 15-day periods per month.
-
A scale up factor has been applied to June admissions to account for cases not yet separated.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
Age and sex differences
Rates of hospitalisation and death from intentional self-harm injuries differed for males and females and across age groups (Figure 3). While rates of death by suicide are higher for males than females, intentional self-harm is one of the few causes of injury where rates of hospitalisation are higher for females than males.
For hospitalisations from intentional self-harm injuries in 2021–22:
- 2 in 3 were for females (67%)
- the age-standardised rates were:
- 150 per 100,000 females and
- 70 per 100,000 males
- females aged 15–24 (and those aged 15–19 in particular), had the highest rates
For deaths by suicide in 2020–21:
- 3 in 4 were for males (76%)
- the age-standardised rates were:
- 18 per 100,000 males and
- 5.9 per 100,000 females
- people aged 25–44 had the highest rates, followed by people aged 45–64, compared with other age groups.
Figure 3: Hospitalisations for intentional self-harm and deaths by suicide, by age group and sex
2 matching column graphs on separate tabs, 1 for hospitalisations and 1 for deaths. The columns represent sex within each of 5 life-stage age groups. The reader can choose to display either rate per 100,000 population or number. The default display shows rates for males and females and the reader can also choose to display persons.

For more detail, see Data tables A1–3 and D1–3.
Severity
There are many ways that the severity, or seriousness, of an injury can be assessed. Four measures of the severity of hospitalised injuries are:
- number of days in hospital
- time in an intensive care unit (ICU)
- time on a ventilator
- in-hospital deaths.
While the average number of days in hospital for intentional self-harm was lower than that for all hospitalised injuries, the percentages of self-harm cases that included time in an ICU or on continuous ventilatory support were the highest of all the main causes of hospitalised injuries. The rate of in-hospital deaths was higher than for all injuries (Table 3).
Intentional self-harm |
All injuries |
|
---|---|---|
Average number of days in hospital |
3.1 |
4.7 |
% of cases with time in an ICU |
10.0 |
2.0 |
% of cases involving continuous ventilatory support |
7.9 |
1.1 |
In-hospital deaths (per 1,000 cases) |
7.0 |
5.9 |
Note: Average number of days in hospital (length of stay) includes admissions that are transfers from 1 hospital to another or transfers from 1 admitted care type to another within the same hospital, except where care involves rehabilitation procedures.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
For more detail, see Data tables A13–15.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:
- there were 2,800 hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm in 2021–22 (Table 4)
- females were 1.6 times as likely as males to be hospitalised due to intentional self-harm
- intentional self-harm hospitalisation rates were highest in the 15–24 age group (Figure 3)
- there were 179 deaths by suicide in 2020–21 (Table 5)
- males were 2.7 times as likely as females to die by suicide.
|
Males |
Females |
Persons |
---|---|---|---|
Number |
1,020 |
1,804 |
2,829 |
Rate (per 100,000) |
232 |
410 |
322 |
Note: Rates are crude per 100,000 population.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
|
Males |
Females |
Persons |
---|---|---|---|
Number |
131 |
48 |
179 |
Rate (per 100,000) |
35 |
13 |
24 |
Notes:
- Rates are crude per 100,000 population.
- Deaths data only includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians, compared with non-Indigenous Australians (after adjusting for the difference in population age structure), were:
- 3.2 times as likely to be hospitalised due to intentional self-harm in 2021–22 (Table 6 and Figure 3)
- 2.7 times as likely to die by suicide in 2020–21 (Table 7).
|
Males |
Females |
Persons |
---|---|---|---|
Indigenous Australians |
247 |
392 |
319 |
Non-Indigenous Australians |
63 |
138 |
100 |
Notes
- Rates are age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population (per 100,000).
- ‘Non-Indigenous Australians’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
|
Males |
Females |
Persons |
---|---|---|---|
Indigenous Australians |
38 |
13 |
25 |
Non-Indigenous Australians |
18.2 |
5.7 |
11.9 |
Notes
- Rates are age-standardised to the 2001 Australian population (per 100,000).
- ‘Non-Indigenous Australians’ excludes cases where Indigenous status is missing or not stated.
- Deaths data only includes data for New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and the Northern Territory.
Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.
The rate of hospitalisations for intentional-self harm was highest among the 15–24 life-stage age group for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Figure 4). Deaths data are not presented because of small numbers.
Figure 4: Hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm by Indigenous status, by age group and sex, 2021–22
Column graph representing hospitalisation data for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians by 5 life-stage age groups. The reader can choose to display rate per 100,000 population or number. The default displays persons, and the reader can also choose to display males or females.

For more detailed data, see Data tables A4–6 and D4–6.
Remoteness
Compared to those living in other areas, people in Very remote areas had the highest age-standardised rate of hospitalisation for intentional self-harm in 2021–22 (Table 8). People in Very remote areas were 1.9 times as likely as people living in Major cities to be hospitalised due to intentional self-harm.
Males |
Females |
Persons |
|
---|---|---|---|
Major cities |
62 |
136 |
99 |
Inner regional |
70 |
160 |
115 |
Outer regional |
101 |
199 |
149 |
Remote |
119 |
238 |
175 |
Very remote |
134 |
254 |
191 |
Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.
People living in Remote areas were 2.2 times as likely as people living in Major cities to die by suicide in 2020–21 (age-standardised) (Table 9).
Males |
Females |
Persons |
|
---|---|---|---|
Major cities |
14 |
4.8 |
9 |
Inner regional |
24 |
6 |
15 |
Outer regional |
27 |
6.6 |
17 |
Remote |
31 |
n.p. |
21 |
Very remote |
28 |
n.p. |
21 |
n.p. Not publishable because of small numbers, confidentiality or other concerns about the quality of the data.
Note: Rates are age-standardised per 100,000 population.
Source: AIHW National Mortality Database.
The highest rate of intentional self-harm hospitalisations was among the 15–24 life-stage age group living in Remote areas of Australia. (Figure 5).
Deaths data are not presented because of small numbers.
Figure 5: Hospitalisations due to intentional self-harm by remoteness, by age group and sex, 2021–22
Column graph representing hospitalisation data for each of the 5 remoteness categories within 5 life-stage age groups. The reader can select to display rate per 100,000 population or number. The reader can also select to display data for persons, males, or females. The default displays rate per 100,000 for persons.

For more detail, see Data tables A7–9 and D9–10.
For information on how statistics are calculated by remoteness, see the technical notes.
Data details
Technical notes: how the data were calculated
Data tables: download full data tables
T
The following include information on intentional self-harm and suicide.
Suicide & self-harm monitoring
The first year of COVID-19 in Australia: direct and indirect health effects
National suicide monitoring of serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force personnel
Indigenous injury deaths, 2011–12 to 2015–16
Hospitalised injury and socioeconomic influence in Australia, 2015–16
Injury mortality and socioeconomic influence in Australia, 2015–16
ACCD (Australian Consortium for Classification Development) 2019. The international statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, 10th revision, Australian modification (ICD-10-AM), 11th ed. Tabular list of diseases and alphabetic index of diseases. Adelaide: Independent Hospital Pricing Authority (IHPA), Lane Publishing.
AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) 2022, Deaths in Australia. Canberra: AIHW. Viewed 14 Feb 2023.
WHO (World Health Organization) 2011. International statistical classification of diseases and related health problems, tenth revision. Fifth edition 2016. Geneva: WHO.