This annual statistical publication presents and summarises suicide information received from the New Zealand Mortality Collection, and admissions to hospital for intentional self-harm sourced from the New Zealand National Minimum Dataset.
Key Results
Key facts from the publication are:- There were 483 deaths from suicide and 2679 hospitalisations (excluding where the patient was discharged from the emergency department and stayed less than 48 hours) for intentional self-harm in 2007.
- The suicide rate of 11.0 deaths per 100,000 population has declined significantly (by 27.3 percent) since the peak rate in 1998.
- Intentional self-harm hospitalisations have declined significantly (by 25.5 percent) since 1996.Male suicide rates were almost three times the female suicide rates in 2007, and female hospitalisations involving intentional self-harm are approximately twice those for males.
- Suicide rates for males aged 25-29 have decreased by almost half since 1997.
- Māori suicide rates (16.1 per 100,000 Māori population) in 2007 were significantly higher than non-Māori suicide rates (9.9 per 100,000 population).
- Māori suicide rates were 19.1 percent lower than the peak rate in 1998, but they are variable rather than trending downwards.Suicide rates for those in the most deprived socioeconomic quintile (quintile 5) were significantly higher than for those in quintile 1.
- In 2007, males from the most deprived areas were almost three times more likely to be hospitalised than those in the least deprived areas, while females from the most deprived areas were almost twice as likely to be hospitalised as those in the least deprived areas.
- In 2007, rates of suicide amongst youth (aged 15-24) had decreased by 46.6 percent since their peak in 1995.