section_path: Epidemiology/Sex and gender
section_name: Sex and gender
paragraph_text: Sex and gender
  
  Globally as of 2012, death by suicide occurs about 1.8 times more often in males than females. In the Western world, males die three to four times more often by means of suicide than do females. This difference is even more pronounced in those over the age of 65, with tenfold more males than females dying by suicide. Suicide attempts and self-harm are between two and four times more frequent among females. Researchers have attributed the difference between suicide and attempted suicide among the sexes to males using more lethal means to end their lives. However, separating intentional suicide attempts from non-suicidal self-harm is not currently done in places like the United States when gathering statistics at the national level.
  
  China has one of the highest female suicide rates in the world and is the only country where it is higher than that of men (ratio of 0.9). In the Eastern Mediterranean, suicide rates are nearly equivalent between males and females. The highest rate of female suicide is found in South Korea at 22 per 100,000, with high rates in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific generally.
  
  A number of reviews have found an increased risk of suicide among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Among transgender persons, rates of attempted suicide are about 40% compared to a general population rate of 5%. This is believed to in part be due to social stigmatisation.