An important new study has confirmed the trend towards decrease in suicides in Europe. Specifically, suicide rates have decreased in 15 countries (including Germany and Italy) and have remained stable in others (including France, Spain and the United Kingdom). Only Türkiye registers a significant increase.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of premature death; all over the world are registered about 700,000 suicides a year. Suicide rates in Europe have been declining across the board since the turn of the century. Each suicide indicates a decision to end one’s own life, so in principle it can be prevented.
Before covid-19
EU statistics show that around 1.1% of all deaths are due to suicide, which means that in the EU there are on average about 56,000 deaths as a result of suicidemore if all of Europe is taken into account.
The new study, which is presented for the first time at the European Congress of Psychiatry in Paris (France), as listed in European public databases, in 38 European countries between 2011 and 2019 (It is important, therefore, to note that it does not reflect the influence of events such as the covid-19 pandemic). Fifteen of these countries showed a significant decrease in suicides (population-adjusted), with no significant change in the other 22 countries. Turkey was the only country that registered a significant increase, although the reasons are not clear.
Dr. Anna Giménez, from the University of Barcelona and study researcher, highlights that this work “confirms that suicide rates continued to decline (or in the worst case remained stable) throughout Europe in the period from 2011 to 2019 . The psychiatric disorders are related to an overwhelming proportion of these cases.”
Effect of interventions and prevention plans
As he acknowledges, “in recent years, several specific interventions and action plans have been launched for the suicide prevention in several European countries, and we believe that they might have had an impact on suicide trends. This is in contrast, for example, with the United States, where suicide rates increased by 36% in the period 2000-2018, before starting to decline.”
This expert adds that “differences in trends from one country to another reflect, of course, local society, but they can also reflect taking action to prevent suicide in each country. We’re not sure about this yet,” he admits, “but it seems the most likely cause. Previous research has shown that introducing these measures can be effective, so our next step is to confirm that the improvement is related to this direct action.”
The total suicide rate in Europe (38 countries) dropped from 20 deaths per 100,000 people in 2011 to 16 per 100,000 in 2019, which means a decrease in deaths by suicide of almost 20% in this period. Lithuania, which previously had by far the highest suicide rate in Europe, recorded the largest drop in suicides.
It remains stable in Spain
All European countries have agreed to work with the World Health Organization to implement suicide reduction measuresThese include: limiting access to the means of suicide (eg, pesticides, firearms, certain medications); engage with the media to responsibly report on suicide; fostering social-emotional life skills in adolescents; and early identification, assessment, and ongoing treatment of anyone affected by suicidal behaviors.
For her part, Dr. Giovanna Fico, from the University of Barcelona, acknowledges that “COVID-19 and the current war in Ukraine may affect to suicide trends, but overall the trend in Europe is towards fewer successful suicides.
Similarly, Professor Philip Gorwood, former president of the European Psychiatric Association, says that “as countries deal differently with reducing the burden of mental disorders, it is interesting to know what measures are effective and they really translate into something as crucial as the decrease in the suicide mortality rate.”
“It is possible to reduce deaths”
Therefore, he assures that “this European study is very interesting, since it shows that there are large heterogeneities between countries, and that for a relatively large number of countries it is possible to reduce the number of deaths by suicide per year”.
The 22 countries that have not shown significant changes in suicide rates from 2011 to 2019 are Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, United Kingdom, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Ukraine.z