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Intentional self-harm hospitalisations among young people

Hospitalisations data for patients with intentional self-harm injuries includes those with and without suicidal intent. For further information see the Technical notes.

The data presented here are for children and young people aged below 0 and 24 years, grouped into 3 age ranges: 14 years and below, 15-19 years and 20-24 years. For children, especially those aged under 10 years, it is difficult to determine whether a self-inflicted injury was done with intent to self-harm. 

Intentional self-harm hospitalisations in young people, 2008–09 to 2021–22.

The line graph shows age-specific rates of intentional self-harm hospitalisations for young people aged 14 and below, 15–19 and 20–24 from 2008–09 to 2021–22. Users can also choose to view age-specific rate, numbers and proportion of hospitalisations for intentional self-harm by sex for each age group.

Young people have the highest rates of hospitalisation for intentional self-harm

In 2021–22:

  • the rate for young people aged 15–19 was 389 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, the highest of all age groups (including adults, not in this visualisation)
  • the age-specific hospitalisation rate due to intentional self-harm was slightly lower among people aged 20–24 years (242 per 100,000), and the lowest was for children aged 14 and below (40 per 100,000 population)
  • the rate for females aged 0–14 increased from 41 hospitalisations per 100,000 population in 2019–20 to 72 in 2021–22
  • the age and sex-specific rate was highest for females aged 15–19 (637 hospitalisations per 100,000 population), followed by females aged 20–24 (342 per 100,000 population)
  • rates for young males were lower compared to females across all ages. The lowest rate for males aged 0–14 was 9.1 hospitalisations per 100,000 population, followed by 144 among males aged 20-24 years. Similar to females, males aged 15-19 had the highest rate among young males at 152 hospitalisations per 100,000 population.

Rates of intentional self-harm hospitalisations for girls and young females are rising

From 2008–09 to 2021–22:

  • there has been a greater then 3-fold increase to the rate of intentional self-harm hospitalisations in females aged 14 and below (from 19 hospitalisations per 100,000 population to 72)
  • the rate of intentional self-harm hospitalisations in females aged 15–19 has risen from 374 hospitalisations per 100,000 population to 637, and the rate for females aged 20-24 has increased from 295 to 342 hospitalisations per 100,000 population
  • rates of intentional self-harm hospitalisations for males have also changed over this period but not to the same extent as those of females. An increase was seen in the 15–19 age group (from 124 hospitalisations per 100,000 population to 152) while males aged 20–24 experienced a minor decrease from 2008–09 to 2021–22 (149 and 144 per 100,000 respectively)
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