The suicide rate is stabilizing in Quebec after reaching a peak of 22.1 per 100,000 people in 1999.
The observation delivered in the study entitled Suicidal behavior in Quebec: portrait 2024produced by the National Institute of Public Health of Quebec (INSPQ), also reports that since this peak in 1999, the suicide rate has gradually declined in Quebec before stabilizing.
Data from 2021 shows 12 suicides per 100,000 people in the general population, or 1031 deaths. Furthermore, provisional data from the Coroner’s Office indicates that no decline is expected in 2022 with a rate currently estimated at 12.7 per 100,000 people based on a compilation established on December 8.
The scientific advisor to the INSPQ and author of the report, Pascale Lévesque, believes that the findings reinforce the importance of continuing concerted efforts in suicide prevention. Mme Lévesque also observed that disparities between genders and age groups reveal specific needs.
Thus, girls and women aged 10 to 34 found themselves more often in emergency rooms for suicide attempts or suicidal thoughts. They also had a particularly high rate of hospitalizations attributable to suicide attempts.
However, men remain the most affected by suicide. If their situation has improved compared to the end of the 1990s, their rate rose to 18.6 per 100,000 people in 2021 and 19.4 per 100,000 people according to 2022 data.
On the other hand, the INSPQ study reveals a worrying situation among middle-aged people.
In fact, both women and men aged 50 to 64 have a worrying rate of suicide. Among women, it fluctuated slightly from 7.9 in 2021 to 8.4 per 100,000 people in 2022. It turns out to be more than three times higher among men in this age group, varying from 25.2 in 2021 to 29.6 people in 2022. The suicide rate for men aged 50 to 64 is also the highest, all categories combined.