Which EU Country Has the Highest Suicide Rate?

Key Takeaways

• Lithuania recorded the EU’s intentional self-harm rate rate in 2023. It reached 18.8 per 100,000 people.
• Cyprus’s 2023 suicide death rate was the lowest in the EU at 3.5 per 100,000 people. Lithuania’s rate is 5.4 times higher.
• The five highest suicide death rates in the EU all belong to former Communist states: Lithuania, Slovenia, Hungary, Estonia, and Latvia.
• Mediterranean countries hold the EU’s four lowest suicide death rates: Cyprus, Greece, Malta, and Italy.
• Lithuania’s transition from communism brought mass unemployment and collapsed social safety nets. Both are linked to its rising suicide death rate.
• Lithuania’s suicide death rate peaked in the mid-1990s after the Soviet Union’s collapse.

Suicide Death Rates Across EU Countries

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Lithuania Recorded the EU’s Highest Suicide Death Rate

Lithuania recorded an intentional self-harm rate of 18.83 per 100,000 people in 2023. In this article, suicide rates are measured based on deaths resulting from intentional self-harm. That is the highest suicide death rate among all 27 EU member states.

The EU’s lowest suicide death rate belongs to Cyprus. It recorded 3.47 per 100,000 people.

Lithuania’s suicide death rate is 5.4 times higher than Cyprus’s.

Lithuania’s suicide death rate reached its historic peak in the mid-1990s. That followed the Soviet Union’s collapse.

The Soviet Union’s collapse brought mass unemployment and the collapse of social safety nets. Both are linked to the rise in Lithuania’s suicide death rate.

Lithuania launched a national mental health strategy and a suicide prevention program in 2007. Separately, it recorded the largest suicide-rate decline of any European country between 2011 and 2019. Even that decline was not enough to close Lithuania’s gap with the rest of the EU.

The EU’s Highest and Lowest Suicide Rates Split Between Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean

Former Communist states hold the EU’s five highest suicide death rates:

• Lithuania: 18.8
• Slovenia: 16.4
• Hungary: 16.1
• Estonia: 14.3
• Latvia: 14.0

The economic shock of transitioning from communism to a market economy explains much of why these five EU countries have the highest suicide death rates. Rising alcohol consumption was part of that shock across the region.

At the other end of the ranking, the EU’s four lowest suicide death rates all belong to Mediterranean countries:

• Cyprus: 3.5
• Greece: 4.3
• Malta: 5.5
• Italy: 5.8

Religiosity is linked to lower suicide rates among women in the Mediterranean region. That link does not hold for men.

The EU’s overall suicide death rate fell from 12.2 per 100,000 in 2013. It reached 10.37 per 100,000 in 2023.

Part of the EU’s suicide-death-rate decline to suicide-prevention measures, including restricting access to lethal means and early identification of at-risk people.

In Germany, Telefonseelsorge offers free, confidential support 24/7 at 0800 111 0 111 or 0800 111 0 222. Findahelpline.com lists helplines for other countries.