Exposure to the topic of suicide can be distressing, but it is also part of the progression to encourage others to open up. If you feel distressed by this information, please note that help is readily available. We encourage everyone to reach out and access the help and support they may need. There is no shame in voicing the need for help; on the contrary, it shows great strength.
Definitions
Considered one of the most preventable forms of death; suicide is the act of taking one's own life by self-directed injurious behaviour with the intent of death. Suicidal Ideation refers to the contemplation of self-harm or thoughts related to ending one's life.
We often hear jokes and remarks about taking our own life without consideration of the depth the words mean. As September marks awareness for Suicide Prevention; we have to ask, what can we do as a community, what can I do to help someone struggling or how can I acknowledge that my thoughts need to be attended to.
One of the simplest ways to help starts with being more informed.
Thoughts of Suicide are Common
At some point or another, the thought itself can cross our mind, and it is more common than we consider it to be. Any time someone does open up and shares their thoughts of dying by suicide, it must be taken seriously, and action needs to be immediate.
That last figure is the one worth sitting with. If the World Health Organization's ratio holds locally, the twenty-eight deaths recorded in 2023 sit on top of several hundred attempts, and on top of a much larger number of people who thought about it and told nobody. The deaths are counted. Almost nothing above them is.
Malta has the third lowest suicide rate in the EU
Standardised death rate from intentional self-harm, deaths per 100,000 population, all 27 member states, 2023. Eurostat puts Malta at 5.51 for 2023, slightly above the 4.97 reported nationally by the Directorate for Health Information and Research and quoted earlier in this piece; the two series are compiled and standardised differently. Source: Eurostat, Causes of death, standardised death rate by NUTS 2 region of residence (hlth_cd_asdr2), ICD-10 X60-X84_Y870, retrieved 10 September 2026.
Third lowest of twenty-seven is genuinely good news, and the strategy says so plainly. It also says something less comfortable. The EU average has been falling faster than Malta's rate, so the gap is closing from the wrong end. Malta's own line peaked in 2014 and has drifted sideways since, moving up and down by a few deaths a year in a country small enough that a handful of cases swings the rate by whole points.
What indications are concerning or can be a warning?
We are all different, and not everyone can exhibit the same signs that they are thinking about suicide. However, if we take a moment to notice the people around us and are more present and aware; you too can prevent someone from taking their life. You may also become more aware of taking better care of yourself.
People struggling with the thought of ending their life can tend to show drastic changes in their usual behaviour and may even take unnecessary risks such as engaging in reckless driving.
They may experience trouble with eating or sleeping, and may lose interest in hobbies, in work and school. Other more obvious signs can be related to a decline in caring for their personal appearance and hygiene, and they may withdraw socially.
Other warning signs can be associated with the preparation leading up to it. This may be noticed if someone you know is giving away prized possessions, preparing for death by writing a will and making final arrangements such as thinking who would be able to care for their pet.
A clearer sign can be noticed if the topic of suicide is often brought into conversation or the person is preoccupied with death. They may also show signs of hopelessness and thinking they have nothing to live for.
Risk Factors
Risk factors are other considerations that increase the risk of suicidal thought. This is considered if someone is diagnosed with a mental health disorder or has a history of misusing substances and alcohol. Risk also increases if someone has experienced trauma or abuse, has a family history of suicide and if they have tried it before; they are at higher risk to try again. Nonetheless, suicides can happen impulsively during moments of crisis paired with an inability to handle stress.
Sociodemographic risk factors for suicide in Malta considers a higher risk if the persons are male, people aged between 30-60 years, are single or separated and unemployed or pensioners (Camilleri, 2021; Renaud, 2019).
The gap between men and women is the widest thing in the data
Age-specific suicide rate per 100,000 people in 2023, by age group and sex. Malta recorded no female suicide deaths in the 65-and-over group that year. Source: National Suicide Prevention Strategy for Malta 2025-2030, citing DHIR (2024).
Men in the 45 to 64 bracket carry the highest rate in the country, and men outnumber women in every band. The pattern in the other direction is just as consistent. Women are the majority of people who reach out. Of the 130 people referred to the Crisis Resolution Home Treatment team after a suicide attempt in 2022 and 2023, 57.7 per cent were women, three quarters were in work, and the average age was 35.8. Relationship problems were the leading precipitating factor, named in 46.2 per cent of cases.
Two local studies looked at who died. Renaud (2019) examined the records of 635 people who died by suicide between 1995 and 2018 and found higher risk among men aged 30 to 49 who were single or separated and unemployed or retired. Camilleri (2021) went through police reports on 359 deaths between 2003 and 2017 and found the same male pattern in a slightly older bracket, 46 to 60. In Camilleri's set, only 19.2 per cent had ever been in contact with the National Mental Health Services, and the police recorded any mention of mental health in just a third of cases. Whatever was happening to most of these people, the system never saw it.
None of those four numbers is a suicide statistic. All four are in the strategy, because the people who wrote it think the road runs through them. Loneliness climbed eleven points in three years. Malta's under-30s are the least happy young people in the European Union. Nearly one in ten secondary-age children says they hurt themselves to cope. These are the conditions the deaths grow out of, and they are the ones a conversation can actually touch.
Ways of support
First, breathe, check in with yourself on whether you are prepared and able to tackle such a conversation.
Know that you need to be ready to properly listen; although it is an upsetting conversation, do not shut the conversation down.
Remember it's a myth; that if you bring up suicide; you will plant the idea. You are encouraged to bring up your concerns and express what you are noticing. Using clear examples of what is concerning you can help the conversation flow more easily. This can help the person feel seen; may give a sense of relief, and it sends the message that you are there to understand.
You need to be clear and direct. Any ambiguity in the way you ask will only be met with ambiguous answers.
- “Are you thinking of suicide?”
- “Are you thinking of harming yourself”
- “Are you thinking of ending your life?”
- “I hope you're not thinking what I'm thinking”
- “You better not be thinking of suicide.”
If the person does confirm that they are thinking of suicide; ask further if they have a plan (Remember the 'How, Where and When' rule).
If someone has a plan with a 'how', a 'where' and a 'when', the seriousness of the risk increases, and immediate help should be sought.
Provide support by maintaining connections. Ask whether this was their first sharing their experience. Encourage them to talk to someone close to them, to maintain contact with friends, and to inform their work about what is happening.
Be compassionate; acknowledge their pain and their struggles, show appreciation that they opened up to you and instill hope that things can get better.
It is not about trying to find solutions but about offering support and exploring ways to seek help and safety.
Trust your judgement and ensure safety. You may need to approach the person more than once. If you have a doubt about their honesty, try and take further steps to ensure their safety. Never leave someone thinking of suicide alone and make sure to help them connect with a professional.
The helpline is busier than the suicide statistics suggest
Since the 1579 Mental Health Helpline opened in November 2022, it took 11,919 calls up to April 2024. Only 2.9 per cent of them, 349 calls, were about suicide. The other 11,570 were people calling about everything else: loneliness, distress, a bad night, nowhere else to put it. Calls about suicide peaked in June, July and August 2023, which matches the seasonal pattern both Maltese studies found in the deaths themselves.
Source: National Suicide Prevention Strategy for Malta 2025-2030, Figure 7 and accompanying text.
Where to get help
We encourage the use of any of the below platforms if you or anyone you know requires support:
Help Lines
Online Chats
Mental Health Clinics
Paola 2182 1566 / 2182 1562
Qormi 2144 1317 / 2144 0170
Mosta / Qawra 2142 4969
2330 4500 / 2330 4501
Malta does not keep a formal suicide mortality register, and the strategy says so itself. That makes accurate reporting harder and makes year-on-year trends unreliable in a country this size. One of the strategy's own commitments is to fix the data collection and publish an annual report on suicide mortality.
We have used the recorded death counts from Table 3 of the strategy rather than the standardised rates in Table 2, because that table's totals row appears to have been transcribed from the male row and repeats it exactly. The 2023 total rate of 4.97 per 100,000 used above is the figure given in the strategy's own text.
References and informative reading material
- National Suicide-Prevention Strategy for Malta 2025-2030, Ministry for Health and Active Ageing (public consultation)
- apa.org/pubs/journals/ser/5711506
- apa.org/topics/suicide/signs
- apa.org/topics/suicide/prevention-teens
- apa.org/topics/suicide/thoughts
- nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/suicide