Suicide has reemerged to rank tenth on the Health Ministry’s statistics for Taiwan’s most common causes of death in 2024, newly released on Monday. With a 5% rise in cases, the number of suicides has seen a significant increase, placing it on the list for the first time in 14 years, while the rates of the other ten causes of death all saw a decrease.
According to the statistics, the total number of deaths last year was recorded at 201,383, a decrease of 4,192 or 2% from 2023, with the median age of death at 77 years, the same as the previous year. The standardized mortality rate, after adjusting for population size and age structure, was 410 per 100,000 individuals, a decrease of 4.5%. Although the population of Taiwan continues to shift towards a super-aged society, the number of deaths last year showed a downward trend, mainly due to the decrease in mortality from COVID-19 and diabetes.
Cancer has remained the leading cause of death for 43 consecutive years. Heart disease ranked second, pneumonia ranked third, followed by cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, hypertensive diseases, accidental injuries, chronic lower respiratory tract diseases, renal disease, and intentional self-harm in tenth place. Notably, COVID-19, which ranked third and sixth in 2022 and 2023 respectively, fell to 14th in 2024.
Suicide has reemerged on the list after nearly a decade and a half, numbering 4,062 cases, an increase of 164 from the previous year. Health Ministry Mental Health Department Acting Director Cheng Shu-hsin (鄭淑心) said that though the ministry has done studies of teenage suicide risk factors, more research must be done on other age groups. She stated that the government will continue to improve suicide prevention strategies based on previous and future findings.
※If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, you can call the Taiwan Health Ministry Suicide Prevention hotline by dialing 1925, the Taiwan Lifeline International hotline at 1995, or the Teacher Chang Foundation hotline at 1980.