According to ISTAT, in Italy suicides are 10 times more numerous than murders: in 2023, 3,741 occurred and 77% involved men. Furthermore, globally, WHO data identifies suicide as the third leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29. Prison is the place at greatest risk: according to the Antigone Association, 106 prisoners have lost their lives in this way in just under a year and a half. Let’s see in this article what the data is at an Italian, European and global level.
How many suicides are there in Italy and which are the most frequent: ISTAT data
The most recent official ISTAT data (published in May 2026) tell us that in 2023, 3,741 suicides occurred in Italy, or 6.9 per 100,000 inhabitants. For comparison, in 2024 there were 327 homicides in Italy, making suicides about 10 times more frequent than homicides.
However, even if the ever-increasing diffusion of online news tends to amplify its dimension, Istat historical series tell us that in recent decades there has been a sharp decline compared to the 80s and 90s, with a stabilization in the years 2010–2020 and a slight increase in some bands after the pandemic, but without net structural growth.
Analyzing the period 2015-2023, different trends are observed by age group, although the rate referring to the entire population is relatively stable:
• in the youngest there was a sharp increase in rates in 2021 and levels then remained constant until 2023.
• between 50 and 79 years there was instead a decreasing trend, albeit with some peaks.
• among those aged over eighty, after a period of slight decrease between 2015 and 2019, there was an increase starting from 2020, followed by a decrease only in 2023.
The most frequent cause of death is hanging or suffocation (49% in 2023), followed by deaths by precipitation (20%) and by firearm or explosives (10%). Less frequent, however, are deaths due to suicide following poisoning (6%), collision with a vehicle or drowning (both 3%), sharp objects (2%) and fire or very hot objects (1%).
The global picture: over 700,000 deaths every year according to the WHO
Globally, the availability and quality of data on suicide and self-harm are poor. Only around 80 WHO Member States have good quality data from population registers that can be used directly to estimate suicide rates.
However, although partial, estimates from the World Health Organization (WHO) say that suicide causes the death of over 720,000 people globally every year: on average 9.2 per 100 thousand inhabitants.
WHO data also tells us that globally:
- suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people between the ages of 15 and 29
- 73% of suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries
- The link between suicide and mental disorders (particularly depression and alcohol use disorders) and previous suicide attempts is well documented in high-income countries. However, many suicides occur impulsively in times of crisis, with a decline in the ability to manage life stresses, such as financial problems, relationship conflicts, or chronic pain and illness.
- Trauma caused by conflict, disaster, violence, abuse, discrimination or loss is strongly associated with suicidal behavior.
What is the country with the most suicides in the world and in Europe?
According to the most recent WHO estimates (relating to 2021), the country with the highest suicide rate per inhabitants in the world is Lesotho (28.7 per 100,000 inhabitants), an enclave of South Africa, followed by the Republic of Korea (27.5) and Eswatini (27.2), an independent state in southern Africa and one of the three monarchies of Africa, together with Morocco and Lesotho.
The main causes of suicides in Lesotho are sexual violence, unemployment, grief over the death of loved ones or drug and alcohol abuse. Frequent situations, aggravated by the absence of institutions and strong social stigma.
In Europe, however, Eurostat data tell us that Slovenia records the highest number of deaths by suicide (19.8 per 100,000 inhabitants), followed by Lithuania (19.5) and Hungary. Italy, on the other hand, is among the countries with the fewest deaths by suicide per 100,000 inhabitants, together with Greece and Cyprus.
Prisons, the most critical point of the system: the report of the Antigone Association
If you look at suicide in terms of “places”, prison is one of the most extreme environments. In 2025, the Department of Prison Administration recorded a total of 254 deaths. Among these there are 76 suicides (30% of all deaths in prison). According to the Report on deaths in prison for 2025 published by the National Guarantor of the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, the number is decreasing (it was 83 in 2024).
However, 2024 was sadly the record year for the number of suicides in prison, since the data was recorded in ministerial statistics (over 30 years). Furthermore, according to data processed by the Antigone Association, the numbers are even higher; in 2024 alone there were 8 more suicides in Italian prisons. In fact, the Guarantor’s analysis does not include deaths that occurred in hospital after the person had committed the act in prison nor deaths that occurred due to asphyxiation by gas or hunger strike, “as it is difficult to ascertain whether or not there was a suicidal intent”. The same source then tells us that since the beginning of 2026, another 24 suicides have been recorded, for a total of 106 people in just under a year and a half.
To contextualize the evolution of this phenomenon over time, an essential fact to consider is also the overcrowding of prisons: in Italy the average presence of detained people has in fact gone from 53,758 units in 2021 to 62,841 in 2025, recording an increase of 16.9%, the prisons with the greatest crowding are also those with the highest suicide rate.
The gender problem: 4 out of 5 suicides are men
In Italy, approximately 78% of suicide victims in 2023 were men (11.6 per 100 thousand men in 2023). This difference has been stable for decades and is also found in almost all industrialized countries.
However, delving deeper into the numbers, an important statistical paradox emerges:
- women make more suicide attempts than men
- men have more fatal outcomes than women
From the 2023 ISTAT data, some differences also emerge in the type of death between genders: deaths due to hanging or suffocation concern more than half (58%) of male suicides, but less than a third (34%) of female ones. Firearm deaths are also more common among men (12%) than among women (2%). Both methods with a high lethality rate. On the contrary, deaths due to precipitation and poisoning are more frequent among women (36% and 10% respectively) than among men (16% and 4%) but have a lower mortality rate.
