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BiggerSuicide in the Dominican Republic: most victims are men
Santo Domingo.- According to the 2024 Yearbook of Statistics on Accidental and Violent Deaths, suicides accounted for 13.85% of all accidental and violent deaths in the Dominican Republic, totaling 4,700 fatalities. The most common suicide methods were hanging and asphyxiation (80.03%), followed by firearms (12.14%), jumping from heights (5.84%), and other methods (2.00%). The report emphasizes that the high lethality of these methods contributes significantly to the suicide mortality rate.
The majority of suicide victims were men (81.72%) and primarily of working age—nearly half (46.85%) were between 25 and 49 years old. Children under 15 made up the smallest percentage of deaths. Most victims were Dominican nationals (93.86%), with a smaller share of Haitians (3.53%) and others (2.61%). The highest number of cases occurred in June, October, and November, while February had the fewest.
From 2007 to 2024, the country averaged 594 suicides per year, with peaks in 2021 (670 cases), 2023 (669), and 2018 (648). In the broader context, traffic accidents (45.98%) and intentional homicides (22.15%) were the leading causes of violent or accidental deaths, followed by suicides, electrocutions (4.34%), unintentional homicides (7.11%), and drownings (6.57%).
