Suicide was the leading cause of death among 15 to 44-year-olds in 2018 and accounted for the highest number of years of life lost, new data has shown.
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Cause of death data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday revealed the number of deaths by suicide nationally had decreased from 3128 in 2017, to 3046 in 2018.
In Tasmania, there were 78 deaths by suicide in 2018, compared to 80 in 2017.
Lifeline Tasmania chief executive Debbie Evans said while it was pleasing to see a slight decrease in the number of deaths by suicide, it was important to recognise the wider implications.
"While data is useful in terms of understanding suicide, every number is a person and every loss to suicide is a tragedy," she said.
"What a lot of people probably don't know is that for every person who takes their life, 100 others will be impacted. "The impact of a life lost to suicide is devastating and widespread."
All states and territories reported a decrease in the number of suicide deaths in 2018, except for New South Wales, which had an increase from 880 in 2017 to 899 in 2018. Nationally, the number of male deaths by suicide continue to far outweigh female deaths, making up more than 76 per cent of cases.
Acknowledging commitments made by both state and federal governments, Ms Evans said it would take a whole-community response to change the statistics.
"We have a Tasmanian suicide register now which is great, because it identifies the factors for us at a local level and includes 180 variables," she said.
"That in its own right tells us exactly how complicated working out the factors behind suicide can be.
"Suicide is preventable and it's important to recognise the response needed to prevent suicide is a community response. Government support for suicide prevention is incredibly important, but it's up to communities."
On Thursday the Mental Health Council of Tasmania will launch the 2019 theme for Mental Health Week - 'we all have a role to play'.
While the awareness initiative officially runs from October 6 to 12, MHCT chief executive Connie Digolis said many groups were holding events outside of the week to coincide with school holidays.
"It's not just about one week of the year, but rather, going to a Mental Health Week event or activity could be the kickstart someone needs to seek help or find ways to improve their own mental health and wellbeing on an everyday basis," she said.
- Lifeline 13 11 14