Downward trend in suicides
In 2020, the total number of suicides continued to decline. Since the peak in the period 1980-1985, the numbers have been declining continuously.
The topic of mental health effects of the Corona crisis was strongly present in the media during the first year of the pandemic. Research reports for the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) show that the majority of the population's mental health was not affected in the first year of the pandemic. In contrast, certain population groups, such as young people, experienced an increase in mental stress, including hospitalizations among young women due to suspected suicide attempts. Initial data showed no increase in suicides.
These preliminary findings are now confirmed by the 2020 cause of death statistics. This year, 696 men and 276 women committed suicide across Switzerland, the same number of women and 46 fewer men compared to 2019. As in the past, clear differences by gender and age were again evident in 2020: two-thirds of suicides were committed by men, one-third by women. More than 70 percent of suicides occurred among people over the age of 45, with seven percent to eight percent of cases involving men and women under the age of 25.
The Federal Statistical Office FSO records suicides as part of the cause-of-death statistics and publishes these annual.
Source: BAG
