The number of suicide deaths in France remained stable in 2023

In France, 8,848 people, mainly men, took their own lives in 2023, Public Health France announced on Friday, October 10.

According to this national report on the monitoring of suicidal behavior, the number of deaths by suicide has fallen by 4% compared to 2022, both in France as a whole and in mainland France alone (8,676 deaths). This corresponds to a rate of 13 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

Compared to the previous five years, suicide death rates are "generally stable at the national level in both sexes," notes the health agency, which publishes statistics on the causes of death eighteen months after the end of the year in question.

Older men are the population category with the highest suicide rates: those aged 85 and over have the highest rate, with 76 deaths per 100,000 men, compared to 37 and 29 deaths per 100,000 among those aged 65 and over and those aged 45-64, respectively.

About one in two suicides (51%) resulted from hanging (55% for men, 37% for women), the most frequently recorded method on death certificates for 2023 for both sexes. Firearms were the next most common method for men, and medication was the most common method for women.

Among women, those aged 85 and over had the highest death rate (12 deaths per 100,000 women), followed by those aged 45-64 (10 per 100,000).

As for hospitalizations for "self-inflicted acts" (suicide attempts or non-suicidal self-mutilation such as scarification, burns, etc.) that were recorded for 2024, the rates increased for young girls and young women. And they remained "significantly higher" than those for other age groups: 674 hospitalizations per 100,000 among 11-17 year-olds and 424 per 100,000 women among 18-24 year-olds.

"Drug self-intoxication was the method of hospitalization in 77% of stays, and was the preferred method regardless of gender" last year (some data being available more quickly), notes Public Health France.