Deaths by suicide, by Primary Health Network areas

Where people live can impact on their risk of suicide and also their access to services. Reporting rates or numbers of deaths by suicide at Primary Health Network (PHN) areas allows for more localised information that may provide a better understanding of the incidence of deaths by suicide in the local community and allow clinicians, policymakers and researchers to better plan services or suicide prevention activities.

PHNs are organisations that connect health services across a specific geographic area (PHN areas). There are 31 PHN areas that cover the whole of Australia with the boundaries defined by the Australian Government Department of Health. For further information on how the statistics reported here were calculated see Technical notes.

Suicide deaths by Primary Health Network areas, Australia, 2010 to 2021.

The line graph shows the age-standardised rates of suicide for Australia by Primary Health Network (PHN) area from 2010 to 2021. Users can choose to view age-standardised rates and numbers of deaths by suicide by selected PHN. 

How do suicide rates vary among PHN areas?

In 2021:

  • age-standardised rates and numbers of deaths by suicide varied across PHN areas, ranging from 6.2 deaths per 100,000 population in Northern Sydney PHN area to 22.1 in the NSW North Coast PHN area
  • the greatest number of deaths by suicide occurred in the Hunter New England and Central Coast PHN (181), which has also had the highest number of deaths since 2016.