The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has today released its 2015 Causes of Death data - which includes annual national suicide information. The Hunter Institute of Mental Health has developed a brief summary of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander data from the release.

1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander suicide data 2015

2. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
suicide data 2015
Preliminary 2015 statistics indicated that…
• 152 (110 male, 42 female) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
died by suicide, which is slightly higher than the 143 (102 male, 41
female) recorded in 2014
• Suicide was the 5th leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people across NSW, QLD, SA, WA and NT, compared to
the 12th leading cause of death for non-indigenous
• The standardised death rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
people (25.5 per 100,000) was more than twice the non-indigenous
rate (12.5 per 100,000).

3. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
suicide data 2015
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
NSW Qld SA WA NT
Age-standardizedsuiciderate(per100,000)
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Non-indigenous
Between 2011-2015…
• 689 (489 male; 200
female) Aboriginal or
Torres Strait Islander
people died by suicide
• The age-standardised
rate was more than
double the non-
indigenous rate in SA,
WA and NT.