Denmark records lowest suicide deaths in a decade

Denmark recorded 502 suicides in 2025, the lowest annual total between 2015 and 2025, DR reports. The figure was 91 lower than the previous year and included 370 men and 132 women aged over 15.

Erik Christiansen, research director at the Centre for Suicide Research, said a 2024 action plan to prevent suicides and suicide attempts was one reason for the decline.

He also pointed to a reduction in the stigma surrounding suicide. People once believed that discussing suicide could encourage it, but that assumption is now known to be false, he said. This has also made more general practitioners willing to ask patients directly about suicidal thoughts, allowing support to begin earlier.

Merete Nordentoft, a senior physician and professor who sits on the Council for Suicide Prevention, said the decline reflected several combined efforts. Help for people at risk of suicide had become more accessible, she said.

Suicide prevention clinics in Denmark’s five regions have received additional funding to offer talking therapy to more people with suicidal thoughts or a history of suicide attempts.

The nationwide counselling service Livslinien has also been able to answer more calls. The number of enquiries rose from just under 16,000 in 2019 to about 28,000 in 2025. With its current funding, the service has capacity to speak with about half of those callers, said director Jeppe Kristen Toft.

Toft said people’s needs varied. Some needed help from psychiatric services, while that would be inappropriate for others.

The suicide rate fell to 9.9 per 100,000 people in 2025, an 18 per cent decline compared with 2015, according to the Centre for Suicide Research. The decrease was 30 per cent among women and 12 per cent among men. The largest falls were recorded among people aged 40 to 49 and 50 to 59, while the rate among 15 to 19-year-olds showed an upward trend during the period.

People in crisis or experiencing suicidal thoughts can contact Livslinien anonymously on 70 201 201 or through its online chat at www.livslinien.dk.

Despite the decline, Denmark remains short of the United Nations’ global target of reducing suicides by 33 per cent by 2023, a target the country has endorsed.