Suicidal ideation among SA school learners rose to nearly 1 in 4 by 2011
Percentage of Grade 8–11 learners reporting suicidal ideation/planning or a suicide attempt, national Youth Risk Behaviour Surveys, South Africa, 2002–2011
9%
of all teen deaths in SA caused by suicide (2012 National Burden of Disease Study)
565
estimated suicide deaths among 10–19 year-olds in 2012
Seriously considered or planned suicide (past 6 months)
Attempted suicide (past 6 months / past 12 months)
South Africa's national school surveys show that throughout the 2000s, roughly 1 in 5 secondary learners had already attempted suicide — and by 2011 nearly 1 in 4 reported suicidal ideation. But the country still has no national surveillance system for attempts, and school-based prevention remains limited to two SADAG programmes, leaving the full scale of the crisis unquantified.
Daily Maverick · Source: BMC Public Health YRBS, 2013; Stats SA Adolescent Health, 2022; Africa Check, 2016
