Age- and sex-patterns of suicide trends in Europe: 1990-2022 comparative analysis of official WHO mortality data.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Understanding how suicide rates vary across age, sex, and geography is essential to designing effective prevention strategies. We examined long-term trends in suicide mortality across European countries over three decades, with a focus on age-specific trajectories.

Methods

Using the WHO mortality database, we computed annual sex- and age-specific suicide rates (10-14 to 85+ age groups) from 1990 to 2022, for the most populous European countries, and aggregated rates for the EU-27 and four geographical areas (North, West, South, and Centre-East Europe). We also calculated percentage differences across four time periods (1990-1994, 2000-2004, 2010-2014, and 2020-2022), according to data availability.

Results

Suicide rates increased with age, peaking in older

SUBMITTER: Bertuccico P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12721994 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature