Approximately 227,000 women die by suicide each year worldwide, based on 2021 data from the Global Burden of Disease Study. That figure translates to a rate of 5.4 per 100,000 females globally. In the United States, about 9,847 women died by suicide in the most recent reporting year, a rate of 5.6 per 100,000.
Global Numbers in Context
Of the roughly 746,000 total suicide deaths recorded globally in 2021, women accounted for about 30 percent. Men die by suicide at significantly higher rates, with a global male rate of 12.8 per 100,000 compared to 5.4 for females. This gap exists in virtually every country, though the size of the disparity varies by region.
The regions with the highest overall suicide rates are eastern Europe (19.2 per 100,000), southern sub-Saharan Africa (16.1), and central sub-Saharan Africa (14.4), though these figures combine both sexes. Cultural attitudes, access to mental health care, and economic instability all shape how rates differ from one country to the next.
U.S. Rates by Age Group
In the United States, the suicide rate among women is not evenly distributed across age groups. Middle-aged women between 45 and 64 face the highest risk, at 8.6 per 100,000. Women aged 65 to 74 have a rate of 6.2, followed by those 15 to 24 at 5.5 and women 75 and older at 5.1. Even girls aged 10 to 14 are affected, with a rate of 2.1 per 100,000.
Over the past decade, the female suicide rate in the U.S. has actually declined slightly, dropping about 3 percent from 2014 to 2024. That trend stands in contrast to younger adults and people of color, whose rates have climbed over the same period. The rate among women aged 45 to 64 specifically saw some of that decline.
The Attempt-Completion Gap
One of the most consistent patterns in suicide research is that women attempt suicide more often than men, but men die by suicide at roughly four times the rate. Among U.S. high school students, 13 percent of female students reported a suicide attempt in the past year, compared to 6 percent of male students. The difference in fatal outcomes is largely attributed to method: women more often use methods that allow for medical intervention, while men more frequently use methods with higher lethality.
This pattern means that for every woman who dies by suicide, many more survive an attempt and may carry lasting physical or psychological consequences. The focus on death counts alone misses the broader scale of suicidal behavior among women.
Risk Factors Specific to Women
Several risk factors disproportionately affect women. Domestic violence is a significant driver. Researchers studying hospitalization records for self-inflicted injury have pointed to domestic violence exposure, lack of health insurance, and racial discrimination as key factors that should be central to prevention efforts.
Race intersects with suicide risk in ways that challenge simple assumptions. A study from Boston University and Howard University found that Black women aged 18 to 65 had elevated suicide risk regardless of their income level. Black women in the highest income bracket had a 20 percent higher risk of suicide than white women in the lowest income bracket, suggesting that economic stability alone does not protect against the stressors these women face.
Pregnancy and the postpartum period carry their own risks. A review of CDC data spanning 2005 to 2022 found that among pregnant people and those within 42 days of giving birth, 11 percent of deaths were due to homicide or suicide combined. Of those deaths, 39 percent (886 over the 18-year period) were suicides. Homicide and suicide together represent the leading cause of maternal death in the U.S., a fact that often surprises people who associate maternal mortality primarily with medical complications.
These Numbers Are Likely Too Low
The 227,000 global figure almost certainly undercounts real female suicide deaths. A systematic review covering 71 countries estimated that suicide is underreported globally by about 18 percent, but the problem is significantly worse for women. Female suicides are more likely to be misclassified as accidents or attributed to other causes. In India, for example, one analysis found an overall underreporting rate of 37 percent, but for women specifically, the rate reached 54 percent.
Several forces drive this undercount. In countries where religious or cultural norms strongly stigmatize suicide, deaths are more likely to be classified differently. Catholic-majority countries like Ireland and Poland show significant underreporting tied to religious doctrine. In predominantly Islamic countries, researchers found that ratios of undetermined or accidental deaths to recorded suicides were dramatically elevated, with nearly half exceeding a ratio of 15 to 1, strongly suggesting many suicides go unrecorded.
Women’s suicides are particularly vulnerable to misclassification because the methods women tend to use (such as poisoning or drowning) can more easily be attributed to accident or illness. Stigma also plays a role at the family level: relatives may pressure authorities to record a different cause of death to avoid social consequences, and lower autopsy rates in many regions mean fewer cases receive thorough investigation. Life insurance policies that exclude suicide payouts create an additional financial incentive for families to seek alternative classifications.
Adjusting for this underreporting, the true number of women dying by suicide each year worldwide may be closer to 270,000 or higher, though precise corrected estimates vary by region and methodology.