Botswana · 2021–2024 · Ages 0–24
In 2022, self-inflicted injury was the leading cause of death among people aged 15 to 24 in Botswana — 14.2% of deaths in that age group, ahead of road traffic accidents and violence. There is a large discrepancy in the number of 0–24 deaths between 2021–2022 and 2023–2024. I cannot reconcile this and so I would encourage the reader to interpret these numbers with caution. Reductions in suicide rates by 66% in 1 year are almost ALWAYS a change in statistical method, definition, or collection and usually represent an organizational, not a population, difference.
Suicides are expressed as "# per 100,000 per year," but in some jurisdictions this means that we are converting very small numbers into rates (14/400,000 population, for example). Because of this, small changes in numbers of death can create 'bumpy' rate charts. The whole purpose of the confidence intervals and statistical significance on this page is to help you understand what is simply noise and what may be a true change.
This chart groups age "0-24" suicides, but it's important to note that 0-24 is really not what we are looking at. Suicides under 10 are extremely rare (<1 per million person years), and suicide rates increase with age all the way to age 24. So the "pool" of 0-24 is describing 19 year old suicides (12.3 per 100,000) more than it's describing 10 year old suicides (0.4 per 100,000), by a large margin. It is best to think of the "0-24" number as including young children but mostly being older adolescents.
Be cautious comparing jurisdictions like states or countries; there are huge differences in culture, methods available, ethnicity, poverty, and other variables. It's even been shown that religious coroners are less likely to adjudicate findings of suicide than non-religious coroners!
Female: In 2024, the rate was 1.42 per 100,000 per year. Male: In 2024, the rate was 3.68 per 100,000 per year.
Every page on this site was looked at by me, one at a time, before it was published. This is exactly what that involved, and what it did not.
What I checked
What I did not
Automated checks ran over every page and I read their output. A language model was used on some pages to suggest things worth a second look; nothing it produced is published, and nothing it said stands as a finding on its own.
A review is a point in time. If the data behind a page changes afterwards, the page does not ship again until it has been looked at again — that rule is enforced when the site is deployed, not left to memory.
In the US and Canada, call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. The Trevor Project supports LGBTQ+ young people at 1-866-488-7386, or text START to 678-678.
One more caution about the source. The Botswana Data Centre publishes an extract of the same series that agrees with Table 11 for 2021 and disagrees with it for 2022. Table 11 is used here because a second table in the same report — Table 7, external causes of injury by health district — independently totals 275 self-inflicted deaths for 2022, which is what Table 11 says. Where two official figures disagree, the site says so rather than choosing quietly.
Disclaimer: The content on this website is provided for general informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not a substitute for professional diagnosis, treatment, or care. Always seek the advice of a qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health condition. If you are in crisis or having thoughts of suicide, help is available now. Call or text 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline — Canada & US, available 24/7), or go to your nearest emergency department. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
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