Countries by Suicide mortality rate, female (per 100,000 female population)
Korea, Rep. ranks first among 185 countries in female suicide mortality, recording 16.94 deaths per 100,000 female population in 2021. At the opposite end, St. Vincent and the Grenadines records 0.00. The gap between top and bottom spans nearly 17 deaths per 100,000, reflecting profound variation across countries in a single year.
Ranking 2021
Values shown in per capita.
Analysis
This metric measures the crude (not age-adjusted) number of suicide deaths among females per 100,000 female population in a given year. Per the source definition: 'Suicide mortality rate is the number of suicide deaths in a year per 100,000 population. Crude suicide rate (not age-adjusted).' The data come from the World Bank World Development Indicators (indicator SH.STA.SUIC.FE.P5) for the reference year 2021. Coverage is strong: 185 countries are included, all with data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality. The viability checks identified 28 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold, and the range runs from 0.00 to 16.94, a spread exceeding 999%.
Korea, Rep. leads all 185 countries at 16.94 per 100,000 (Rank 1), followed closely by Lesotho at 16.63 (Rank 2) and Suriname at 14.03 (Rank 3). Zimbabwe (11.71, Rank 4), Japan (11.54, Rank 5), and India (11.23, Rank 6) form the next tier. High-income European countries also appear near the top: Belgium ranks 7th at 10.69, France 13th at 9.52, Iceland 14th at 9.30, and Switzerland 15th at 9.20. The Nordic countries Finland (8.77, Rank 17) and Sweden (8.70, Rank 18) sit in the upper fifth of the distribution. These rankings reflect where reported female suicide deaths are highest relative to female population size, using crude rather than age-adjusted figures.
The middle of the ranking includes a diverse set of countries. The United States sits at Rank 36 with 6.47 per 100,000, while the United Kingdom ranks 65th at 4.60 and Italy 88th at 3.62. Several sub-Saharan African countries fall in the upper-middle range, including South Africa (9.94, Rank 11) and Mozambique (5.96, Rank 43). At the lower end, Jordan ranks 181st at 0.29, Syria 182nd at 0.26, West Bank and Gaza 183rd at 0.23, and Oman 184th at 0.21. Notably, several Middle Eastern and North African countries cluster at the very bottom of the ranking. Somalia (6.09, Rank 39) ranks higher than many wealthier nations, while Greece, often grouped with higher-income European peers, ranks 147th at just 1.62.
Crude suicide rates are not age-adjusted, meaning countries with older female populations may record higher rates partly due to demographic structure rather than other factors. Reporting quality and completeness for suicide deaths varies across countries: underreporting, misclassification of cause of death, and differences in vital registration system capacity can all distort rankings. Countries with weaker civil registration systems may undercount suicide deaths, potentially understating their true rates. A value of 0.00, as seen for St. Vincent and the Grenadines, may reflect true absence of recorded deaths, a very small population base, or incomplete reporting rather than a genuinely zero rate. Cross-country comparisons should account for these structural differences in data collection.
Methodology
Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.STA.SUIC.FE.P5, for the reference year 2021. The source definition states: 'Suicide mortality rate is the number of suicide deaths in a year per 100,000 population. Crude suicide rate (not age-adjusted).' The metric covers female deaths only, expressed per 100,000 female population, and is not adjusted for age structure. The ranking covers 185 countries, all of which have data classified as official quality and sourced from within the last seven years (100% recency). Viability checks identified 28 extreme outliers at the 3-sigma threshold. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 8.3%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 0.00 to 16.94, a spread of more than 999%. No microstate exclusions were applied; 0 of 185 countries fall below the 1 million population threshold.