Canada · Ages 0–19 · 2000–2024
In 2024, about 2.09 out of every 100,000 children aged 0–19 in Canada died by suicide. The rate has been going down about 6.4% a year since 2018. 5,930 deaths in total.
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 "0-19" suicides, but it's important to note that 0-19 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 19. So the "pool" of 0-19 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 "0-19" 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 1.82 per 100,000 per year. The fitted trend has been falling 5.1% a year since 2019 (95% CI −8.5% to −1.5%); across 2000–2024 the model finds one change of direction. Male: In 2024, the rate was 2.34 per 100,000 per year. The fitted trend has been falling 7.7% a year since 2018 (95% CI −10.0% to −5.4%); across 2000–2024 the model finds 2 changes of direction.
Indigenous youth are overrepresented in suicide figures (note: indigenous youth are not "higher risk" because it is not about their indigeneity)
Bars are the estimate; the line through each is its 95% confidence interval. Both panels share one scale, so a bar means the same length in each and the sexes can be read against one another. The figure in brackets is the multiple of the non-Indigenous rate of the same sex; it is printed because at this scale the two smaller bars sit within a hair of each other and the ratio between them cannot be seen. The non-Indigenous rate is published as a single figure with no interval, so it carries a bar and no whisker. This is an ages 15–24 band — it is the band Statistics Canada published for this cohort, it is not the 0–19 used everywhere else on this site, and the two never share an axis.
Among Inuit youth, the suicide rate for males aged 15–24 was 289.7 per 100,000 person-years, 24.4× the non-Indigenous rate. For Inuit young women it was 79.2, a rate ratio of 23.7×. First Nations youth die at 4.8× (male) and 12.0× (female) the non-Indigenous rate. These are not marginal differences to be qualified into a footnote; they are the largest disparities in Canadian health statistics, and any national figure quoted without them is an average of two populations that do not resemble each other. Among Inuit living in Inuit Nunangat — the four Inuit regions of the Canadian Arctic — the figures are higher still: 363.2 for males, a rate ratio of 30.5×, and 108.9 for females, 32.5×.
The cause is not Indigeneity. These rates track colonisation, residential schools and their intergenerational effects, forced relocation, and present-day conditions — housing, water, food cost, and the availability of care within a day's travel. Communities with strong self-government and cultural continuity show markedly lower rates. Reporting that presents the number without the mechanism invites the wrong inference.
These figures are a floor, not a ceiling. The cohort excludes people in institutions and those missed by the 2011 National Household Survey, whose participation was voluntary that cycle and whose undercoverage was worst on reserve. Métis age-specific rates could not be produced at all because the cells were too small.
They are also not current. The window closes in 2016. Nothing newer with this design has been published, which is itself reportable: Canada has not produced national Indigenous-identified suicide data in nearly a decade.
| Population group | Sex | Rate | 95% CI | Rate ratio | RR 95% CI | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Nations people | Female | 40.3 | 25.8–54.8 | 12.0× | 6.4–17.6 | — |
| First Nations people | Male | 56.6 | 40.3–73.0 | 4.8× | 3.2–6.4 | — |
| First Nations people living off reserve | Male | 42.6 | 18.3–66.8 | 3.6× | 1.5–5.6 | — |
| First Nations people living on reserve | Female | 52.9 | 40.0–65.7 | 15.8× | 11.7–19.8 | — |
| First Nations people living on reserve | Male | 78.8 | 63.6–94.1 | 6.6× | 5.3–7.9 | — |
| Inuit | Female | 79.2 | 42.8–115.6 | 23.7× | 10.4–36.9 | — |
| Inuit | Male | 289.7 | 219.3–360.0 | 24.4× | 16.9–31.8 | — |
| Inuit in Inuit Nunangat | Female | 108.9 | 59.1–158.6 | 32.5× | 14.2–50.9 | — |
| Inuit in Inuit Nunangat | Male | 363.2 | 274.1–452.3 | 30.5× | 21.1–40.0 | — |
Very different from our American neighbours, Canadian youth die disproportionately by hanging, and firearms are much more rarely used.
Share of suicide deaths, ages 0–19, 2015–2024, with counts at the right.
Two things a Canadian editor should take from this. Hanging and suffocation account for 69% of deaths in this age group, and unlike a firearm or a medicine cabinet there is no supply to restrict — which is why the evidence there points to supervision, crisis response and time-to-intervention rather than to removing an object. Firearms account for 10%, down from 14% in 2000–2009, and remain heavily sex-patterned: 16% of male deaths against 2% of female. Storage law is the live policy question there, and the fall over twenty-five years is the strongest natural experiment Canada has.
| Method group | Deaths 2015–2024 | Share | Share 2000–2009 | Share, female | Share, male |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanging, strangulation, suffocation | 1,630 | 68.8% | 70.3% | 76.8% | 63.6% |
| Firearm | 246 | 10.4% | 13.9% | 1.7% | 15.9% |
| Poisoning | 180 | 7.6% | 7.1% | 11.8% | 4.9% |
| Falling or jumping from height | 142 | 6.0% | 3.7% | 3.9% | 7.3% |
| Other | 172 | 7.3% | 5.1% | 5.7% | 8.2% |
Underlying cause of death, ICD-10 X60–X84, grouped as: hanging and suffocation (X70); firearm (X72–X74); poisoning (X60–X69); falling or jumping from height (X80); everything else (X71, X75–X79, X81–X84) as other. Y87.0, sequelae of intentional self-harm, carries no method code and is therefore in the national totals elsewhere on this page but not in this section, which is why these counts run slightly below the totals shown above. Shares are of deaths with a coded method.
Suicide rate per 100,000 per year. All four panels share one vertical scale, so the differences between them are visible; the vertical line through each point is its 95% confidence interval. Read the band and the source on each panel before reading the level.
Quebec's band is narrower. It publishes 10–19, which excludes the ages where deaths are close to zero, so its level sits above a 0–19 series by construction. Read its shape over time, not its height against the others.
Three of the four are coroner counts, one is vital statistics. Coroner series run higher and drift upward for years as investigations close; vital statistics are final but lag. They are different measurements and are never pooled here.
New Brunswick has two years and limited data.
| Jurisdiction | Year | Deaths | Rate | 95% CI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 2014 | 25 | 2.77 | 1.79–4.09 |
| British Columbia | 2015 | 19 | 2.10 | 1.26–3.27 |
| British Columbia | 2016 | 20 | 2.18 | 1.33–3.36 |
| British Columbia | 2017 | 22 | 2.38 | 1.49–3.60 |
| British Columbia | 2018 | 22 | 2.36 | 1.48–3.58 |
| British Columbia | 2019 | 22 | 2.35 | 1.47–3.56 |
| British Columbia | 2020 | 24 | 2.55 | 1.63–3.79 |
| British Columbia | 2021 | 18 | 1.91 | 1.13–3.02 |
| British Columbia | 2022 | 21 | 2.18 | 1.35–3.34 |
| British Columbia | 2023 | 24 | 2.47 | 1.58–3.67 |
| Saskatchewan | 2015 | 18 | 6.30 | 3.73–9.96 |
| Saskatchewan | 2016 | 17 | 5.86 | 3.41–9.38 |
| Saskatchewan | 2017 | 28 | 9.56 | 6.35–13.82 |
| Saskatchewan | 2018 | 29 | 9.82 | 6.57–14.10 |
| Saskatchewan | 2019 | 28 | 9.43 | 6.26–13.63 |
| Saskatchewan | 2020 | 25 | 8.41 | 5.44–12.42 |
| Saskatchewan | 2021 | 25 | 8.44 | 5.46–12.46 |
| Saskatchewan | 2022 | 13 | 4.35 | 2.31–7.44 |
| Saskatchewan | 2023 | 25 | 8.16 | 5.28–12.05 |
| Saskatchewan | 2024 | 22 | 7.03 | 4.40–10.64 |
| Saskatchewan | 2025 | 20 | 6.35 | 3.87–9.80 |
| Quebec | 2019 | 34 | 3.90 | 2.70–5.45 |
| Quebec | 2020 | 25 | 2.81 | 1.82–4.14 |
| Quebec | 2021 | 35 | 3.89 | 2.71–5.41 |
| Quebec | 2022 | 44 | 4.77 | 3.47–6.40 |
| Quebec | 2023 | 26 | 2.74 | 1.79–4.01 |
| Quebec | 2024 | 34 | 3.49 | 2.41–4.87 |
| New Brunswick | 2023 | 4 | 2.49 | 0.67–6.37 |
| New Brunswick | 2024 | 7 | 4.22 | 1.69–8.70 |
| Jurisdiction | Years | Source type | Youth bands published | Usable for ages 0–19? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| British Columbia | 2000–2024 | coroner | <19 | yes |
| Alberta | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
| Saskatchewan | 2000–2026 | coroner | 0-9, 10-19 | yes |
| Manitoba | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
| Ontario | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
| Quebec | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | 10-14, 15-19 | yes |
| New Brunswick | 2000–2024 | coroner | 0-19 | yes |
| Nova Scotia | 2000–2026 | medical examiner | — | no — all ages only |
| Prince Edward Island | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
| Yukon | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
| Northwest Territories | 2000–2024 | coroner | — | no — all ages only |
| Nunavut | 2000–2024 | vital statistics | — | no — all ages only |
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.
In Canada, the 988 Suicide Crisis Helpline can be reached by call or text at 988. The Hope for Wellness Helpline offers counselling for Indigenous people across Canada at 1-855-242-3310, with support available in Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut on request.
En français : Au Canada, la Ligne d’aide en cas de crise de suicide répond par appel ou texto au 988, en français comme en anglais, 24 heures sur 24. Au Québec, le 988 est redirigé vers les services québécois : 1-866-APPELLE (1-866-277-3553), texto au 53 53 53, et clavardage sur suicide.ca. La Ligne d’espoir pour le mieux-être offre du counselling aux personnes autochtones partout au Canada au 1-855-242-3310, avec un service en cri, en ojibwé et en inuktitut sur demande.
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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