Do men die by suicide more often than women, and is it because they don’t seek help?

Suicide deaths are counted from death certificates, where the underlying cause of death is recorded as intentional self-harm. In Canada in 2023 there were 3,837 suicide deaths: 2,869 men and 968 women, so men were about 75%. The crude rate was 14.4 per 100,000 for men and 4.8 for women, about three times higher.

In the United States in 2024 there were 48,824 suicide deaths: 38,977 men and 9,847 women, so men were about 80%. The age-adjusted rate was 22.3 per 100,000 for men and 5.6 for women, about four times higher. The National Center for Health Statistics reports that the men’s rate was about three to four times the women’s across 2014 to 2024.

Suicidal thoughts and attempts are measured by surveys that ask people directly. They cover people who survived, and they depend on what people are willing to report.

In the US national survey for 2024, 5.5% of both men and women said they had serious thoughts of suicide in the past year, and 0.8% of men and 0.9% of women said they had attempted suicide. In Canada in 2019, 2.66% of men and 2.79% of women said they had seriously considered suicide in the past year.

Hospital data point the same way. Public Health Agency of Canada figures for 2020 to 2021 show higher rates of hospitalization for self-harm among women and girls at every age except 80 and older. The gap is largest at ages 10 to 19, where the rate was more than four times that of boys and young men (187 compared with 43 per 100,000).

So the gap is mainly in deaths, not in how many people report being suicidal or attempting suicide.

In the US in 2024, among adults who had a mental illness in the past year, 42.1% of men and 59.2% of women received mental health treatment or counselling in that year. SAMHSA reports that the difference remained after adjusting for other characteristics such as age, education and poverty level.

Canada does not publish the equivalent figure by gender in the sources we reviewed. Statistics Canada’s 2022 survey found that 48.8% of people aged 15 and older who met the criteria for a mood, anxiety or substance use disorder had talked to a health professional about their mental health in the past year, but that release does not give separate figures for women and men.

Supported: men die by suicide at about three times the rate of women in Canada and about four times in the US, and the difference has been stable for years.

Supported, for the US: men with a mental illness are less likely than women to receive treatment.

Not established by these figures: that men’s lower use of treatment is why more men die. The figures show two differences side by side, not that one causes the other. Other explanations researchers have proposed include differences in the methods used and in alcohol and drug use, which these sources do not measure. Separating them needs studies that follow people over time, not summary tables.

Also not supported: the idea that suicide is mainly a men’s issue or mainly a women’s issue. Women report suicidal thoughts and attempts at least as often as men, while men account for most deaths.

The Canadian rate is a crude rate for all ages. The US rate is adjusted to a standard age structure. The survey figures come from different surveys, years and questions. The direction is the same in both countries, but the numbers should not be compared side by side.

Some suicide deaths are recorded under other causes, such as undetermined intent or accidental poisoning, and the share may differ between women and men.

Statistics Canada’s 2024 figures are preliminary, and it notes that recent years may include fewer deaths because the collection period was shortened. We use 2023. The men’s share has been close to 75% in every year from 2018 to 2024.

Survey figures may undercount, and men and women may report differently. Treatment figures count any treatment, not whether it was enough or whether people wanted more.

A future version will add Canadian help-seeking figures by gender if they are published.