Queensland strengthens efforts to reduce lives lost to suicide

10 Sep 2025

The Queensland Mental Health Commission has today released the Suicide in Queensland Annual Report 2024.
The release coincides with World Suicide Prevention Day, which this year carries the theme ‘Changing the Narrative on Suicide’.
The report provides the most comprehensive picture of suspected suicides in Queensland, drawing on data from the Queensland Suicide Register (QSR) and interim Queensland Suicide Register (iQSR).
Key findings show that in 2024, 769 people lost their lives to suspected suicide in Queensland—a decrease from the peak of 816 in 2021.

The Suicide in Queensland Annual Report 2024 highlights the importance of accurate and timely data to inform prevention efforts.

The report details the scale, circumstances and risk factors associated with suicide, while emphasising that behind every statistic is a life lived, and a life lost too soon.

The release follows the Commission’s World Suicide Prevention Day event, which brought together people with lived experience, service providers, researchers, and peak body representatives to strengthen collaboration and prevention action.

This year’s theme ‘Changing the Narrative on Suicide’ calls for a shift away from stigma, silence and misunderstanding, towards openness, empathy and inclusion.

Central to this is ensuring that lived experience continues to shape how Queensland responds to suicide.

Key data from the report includes:

769 suspected suicides were recorded in 2024 – with an age-standardised suspected suicide rate* of 13.6 per 100,000 Queenslanders.
78.3% of deaths were male, with the rate among men 3.7 times higher than women.
61 First Nations people lost their lives, representing almost 8% of all deaths, with disproportionate impact among those aged 25–34.

The Suicide in Queensland Annual Report 2024 is available at www.qmhc.qld.gov.au.

The Commission assumed custodianship of the QSR and the iQSR in 2023 and has since introduced reforms to strengthen transparency and utility of suicide data.

These include monthly public data reporting, new data models, and the introduction of geospatial mapping to identify suicide clusters and support place-based prevention.

Quotes attributable to Queensland Mental Health Commissioner, Ivan Frkovic:

“The release of the Suicide in Queensland Annual Report on World Suicide Prevention Day is an important reminder that every life lost to suicide is one too many.

“Each number in this report represents a life—a person loved, valued and missed.

“Suicide prevention is not the work of one agency, one sector or one individual. It is a shared responsibility.

“It’s encouraging to see a slight decline in suicide numbers, but we know the impact on families, friends and communities remains profound.

“But it also tells us that we must continue to invest in prevention, strengthen community-led responses, and ensure lived experience voices are at the centre of reform.

“The Suicide in Queensland Annual Report is one of the most important contributions we can make to suicide prevention in Queensland, because it strengthens the evidence base and supports more effective action.

“Our goal is a Queensland where everyone feels supported, safe, and connected—because suicide is preventable.”

Contact

Communication and Engagement team

Queensland Mental Health Commission

P. 1300 855 945 E. media@qmhc.qld.gov.au

Every life

More information about Every life: The Queensland Suicide Prevention Plan 2019–2029 is available at https://www.qmhc.qld.gov.au/every-life-suicide-prevention-plan.

Suicide data

The Queensland Mental Health Commission publishes monthly suicide data based on data from the interim Queensland Suicide Register. Viewing advisory: caution. Some people may find parts of this content confronting or distressing: https://info.qmhc.qld.gov.au/suicide-data. A list of support services is provided at the end of this release.

*Age standardised suspected suicide rate: Age standardisation is a method that removes the influence of age when comparing populations with different age structures. This is necessary because the rates of many health conditions vary with age, making it difficult to compare populations with different age distributions. For example if one population has a much older age structure than another, it is likely to have higher crude death rates, even if the underlying health of the populations is similar.

Safe media reporting

Refer to the Mindframe guidelines for safe media reporting about suicide, available at https://mindframe.org.au/suicide/communicating-about-suicide.

Support services

Lifeline | 13 11 14 | www.lifeline.org.au/gethelp

Suicide Call Back Service | 1300 659 467 | www.suicidecallbackservice.org.au

MensLine Australia | 1300 789 978 | www.mensline.org.au

Beyond Blue Support Service | 1300 224 636 | www.beyondblue.org.au

13YARN | 13 92 76 | www.13yarn.org.au

SANE Australia Helpline | 1800 187 263 | www.sane.org

QLife (LGBTIQA+) | 1800 184 527 | www.qlife.org.au

Kids Helpline | 1800 551 800 | www.kidshelpline.com.au

Arafmi carer support line | 1300 554 660 | https://arafmi.com.au/