Suicide refers to a range of self-destructive behaviours ranging from non-fatal acts which have been called suicidal gestures, attempted suicide, parasuicide self-injury, or if poisoning is used, self-poisoning, and more recently deliberate self-harm, to fatal acts in which the person dies, commonly called completed suicide.

The epidemiology of suicide

Rates of completed suicide range from 0.8 per 100 000 people per year in Azerbaijan and 1.6 in Kuwait (in 2000), according to the latest World Health Organization figures (now online at www.who.int), to 44.1 in Lithuania and 39.4 in Belarus (in 2000). The rate in the USA was 10.4 (in 2000) and in the UK 7.2 (in 2000). It is estimated that perhaps there are ten suicidal attempts for every completed suicide, indicating that rates of attempted suicide may reach as high as 440 per 100 000 per year.

Official rates of completed suicide have been criticized for their inaccuracy, especially because of the reluctance of some coroners, medical examiners and police officers to certify deaths as suicide. Studies by researchers in the UK (e.g. Cooper & Milroy, 1995) have found that up to 40% of apparent suicides are not recorded as suicides by the coroners. However, although official rates of completed suicide may be lower than the actual incidence, studies have shown that completed suicide rates among immigrant groups to nations (where their deaths are certified by the same coroners) are in roughly the same rank order as the rates in their home nations, indicating some degree of validity (Sainsbury, 1973).