Suicidal behaviour across the African continent: a review of the literature

BMC Public Health

Table 4 Summary of data for suicide and suicide attempts in Africa according to mortality strata

	Range	Median (lower and upper quartile)	Mean
WHO mortality stratum D
(58% of African countries)
Suicide
7 countries; rate per 100,000	0.4 - 6.8 per 100,000	3.2 per 100,000 (0.4, 4.6)	2.8 per 100,000
Suicide attempts
3 countries; lifetime prevalence	0.7% - 6.0%	2.1% (1.4, 4.1)	2.9%
1 country; rate per 100,000	0.1 per 100,000	0.1 per 100,000	0.1 per 100,000
WHO mortality stratum E
(38% of African countries)
Suicide
9 countries; rate per 100,000	1.0 - 17.2 per 100,000	3.3 per 100,000 (2.3, 7.9)	5.5 per 100,000
Suicide attempts
1 country; lifetime prevalence	2.9%	2.9%	2.9%
6 countries; rate per 100,000	5.2 - 100 per 100,000	30.3 per 100,000 (10.1, 49.9)	37.6 per 100,000

WHO: World Health Organization.
WHO mortality stratum D: high child mortality and high adult mortality; stratum E: high child mortality and very high adult mortality.
No data were available for the 4% of African countries in stratum B.
Number of annual deaths = population of countries in stratum/100,000 X median incidence rate for stratum.
Estimated number of annual deaths in stratum D countries = 584,431,000/100,000 X 3.2 = 18,702.
Estimated number of annual deaths in stratum E countries = 469,722,000/100,000 X 3.3 = 15,501.
Estimated number of annual deaths in Africa: 34,203.

ISSN: 1471-2458