Evolution of Suicide Rates in Latin America (2000-2023): Analysis by Country, Gender and Age Group
Description
This dataset presents the evolution of suicide rates in Latin America and the Caribbean during the period 2000-2023, based on data from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), national reports and regional statistical sources. The dataset includes suicide rates per 100,000 inhabitants broken down by: (1) Country: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, Guyana, Suriname and regional average; (2) Gender: male, female and total; (3) Age group: 15-29 years, 50-79 years, 80+ years and all ages; (4) Year: from 2000 to 2023 (with emphasis on key periods: pre-pandemic 2019, pandemic and post-pandemic 2021-2023). Main findings: The Americas region is the only one in the world where suicide rates have consistently increased since 2000, reaching 9.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2021, with more than 100,760 deaths that year. The increase was more pronounced in women (+23.1%) than in men (+14.4%) between 2000-2021. Caribbean countries (Guyana, Suriname) and the Southern Cone (Uruguay) have the highest rates, while the Andean Region has the lowest. Men account for 71-79% of total suicides. The group over 50 years of age concentrates the largest number of cases. Sources: PAHO/WHO, CONASAMA (Mexico), Mortality Observatory (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia), DW, Statista, Ciencia Latina, Wikipedia/PAHO.
Files
Steps to reproduce
1. Data were collected from the following official sources: Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), CONASAMA Mexico, Mortality Observatory (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia), Statista, DW and national reports. 2. The PAHO/WHO mortality database by cause (ICD-10 code X60-X84, intentional suicide) was consulted. 3. Rates were calculated as: (Number of suicide deaths / Total population) x 100,000 inhabitants. 4. Data were organized in CSV format with columns: Country, Year, Gender, Age_Group, Rate_per_100000, Subregion, Source, Notes. 5. For trend analysis, periods 2000 (baseline), 2005, 2010, 2015, 2019 (pre-pandemic), 2021-2023 (post-pandemic) were compared. 6. Gender data were obtained from official reports of each country; when only the total was available, values by sex were estimated based on regional PAHO proportions (71-79% men). 7. The CSV file can be opened with any analysis software: Microsoft Excel, R, Python (pandas), SPSS, or Stata.