TABLE 1—
Proportion of Firearm Suicides From 3 Data Points, Compared With Crude Suicide Rates and Proportions of Households Owning Firearms, by Country: 1983–2000
| Crude Suicide Rates (per 100 000 Population) | Proportion of Firearm Suicides, % | Proportion of Households Owning Firearms, % | ||||||||
| Countrya | ~1983 | ~1993 | ~2000 | ~1983b | ~1993b | ~2000b | 1989 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 |
| United States | 12.4c | 12.1d | 10.4e | 58.7 | 60.9 | 56.8 | 46.0 | 41.0 | 40.0 | 32.0 |
| Switzerland | 24.5c | 21.3f | 18.5g | 23.5 | 26.4 | 27.4 | 32.8 | . . . | 37.1 | 35.7 |
| Finland | 25.4c | 27.3f | 23.0g | 21.4 | 21.1 | 19.9 | 25.5 | 25.4 | 28.9 | 24.0 |
| Norway | 14.3c | 13.6d | 12.5g | 27.1 | 29.0 | 19.8 | 31.5 | . . . | . . . | . . . |
| France | 22.3c | 20.8f | 18.4h | 22.1 | 24.7 | 19.0 | 25.3 | . . . | 26.1 | 18.6 |
| Canada | 13.9c | 13.2i | 11.7h | 31.9 | 28.2 | 19.0 | 31.0 | 28.2 | 23.7 | 19.1 |
| Austria | . . . | 22.1f | 19.3j | . . . | 18.4 | 16.9 | . . . | . . . | 14.3 | . . . |
| Sweden | 18.2k | 15.8d | 13.3g | 11.6 | 13.3 | 12.2 | . . . | 16.8 | 16.9 | 16.9 |
| Denmark | . . . | 22.3d | 13.9e | . . . | 10.1 | 11.8 | . . . | . . . | . . . | 12.4 |
| Australia | 11.6c | 12.7f | 12.8g | 29.5 | 18.6 | 10.2 | 20.1 | 17.6 | . . . | 10.0 |
| New Zealand | 13.8l | 12.8d | 11.9h | 17.5 | 16.7 | 7.9 | . . . | 26.2 | . . . | . . . |
| Germany | 20.4c | 15.6f | 13.5g | 6.8 | 7.5 | 7.9 | 9.2m | . . . | . . . | . . . |
| Portugal | . . . | 14.8f | 11.7j | . . . | 8.6 | 7.6 | . . . | . . . | . . . | 13.8 |
| Spain | 6.5c | 7.8d | 8.1g | 7.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 12.7 | . . . | . . . | . . . |
| The Netherlands | 11.7c | 10.3f | 9.5e | 2.4 | 3.0 | 3.3 | 2.0 | 2.8 | 3.7 | 1.9 |
| England and Wales | 8.6c | 7.7i | 6.2n | 4.4 | 4.3 | 2.8 | 4.7 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 3.4 |
| Scotland | 10.5c | 12.2f | 12.4o | 6.6 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 5.1 | . . . | 4.7 | 3.3 |
| Japan | . . . | 16.7f | 24.5e | . . . | 0.2 | 0.2 | . . . | . . . | . . . | 0.6 |
Source. Killias5; Krug et al.8; World Health Organization mortality database (http://www.who.int/research/en/); International Crime Victims Surveys (http://www.unicri.it/wwd/analysis/icvs/data.php).
Note. Years were of variable length or were nominal year.
aSorted by proportion of firearm suicides around 2000; Belgium and Italy were omitted because ICD-10 data was lacking.
b The same periods in columns 1 to 3 are valid for columns 4 to 6
c1983–1986
d1993
e1999–2000
f1994
g1999–2001
h2000
i1992
j2002
k1987–1990
l1986–1989
mFederal Republic of Germany (without the former German Democratic Republic).
n2001
o2000–2001