In light of the high number of suicides in Germany, experts call for improving prevention measures and increasing financial commitment on the part of political parties. "Rising suicide rates are a warning sign. It is time to invest in suicide prevention financially as well," Germany's National Suicide Prevention Program (NaSPro) and the German Academy for Suicide Prevention announced on Wednesday (October 28) in Kassel.
“Those who are thinking about suicide must find support quickly and easily. Suicide prevention efforts must reach people in their daily lives as well as in the health care sector,” Georg Fiedler, executive member of the academy’s board of directors, was quoted as saying by the Catholic News Agency. He pointed out that it requires assistance services that are reliably funded and guaranteed in the long term. These services include, in addition to medical and psychological care in particular, accessible counseling services and regional networks often run by civil society organizations.
Legislative amendments needed to provide immediate assistance
The German Patient Protection Foundation also called for amendments to the draft suicide prevention law. “The Federal Minister of Health must realize that sufficient services for people at risk of suicide cannot be organized with a budget of around 1.5 million euros per year,” said Eugen Breisch, a member of the board of directors. Cuts in the budget for psychotherapy can have serious consequences, especially for people in need of help who are depressed.
The Federal Bureau of Statistics announced in mid-October that 11,334 people died by suicide last year. This figure represents an increase of 9.3 percent over the previous year and 15.6 percent over the average over the past ten years.
Experts noted a sharp rise in suicides among women and a significant increase in drug-related deaths. According to an evaluation conducted by the Suicide Prevention Program, suicide cases increased among women by 17.9 percent and among men by 5.8 percent. Women accounted for 530 of the additional 962 deaths. This development coincides in time with a noticeable increase in assisted suicide cases. The three major assisted suicide organizations reported a total of 1,287 assisted suicides in Germany for 2025 compared to 977 cases the previous year.
Medically assisted suicides are not reported separately in national cause-of-death statistics. However, available data indicate that the increase in assisted suicide contributes to the high number of suicides among women. Therefore, the National Suicide Prevention Program in Germany and another organization called for a unified and independent census of medically assisted suicides nationwide.
Older women are more likely to commit suicide
Suicide prevention experts confirmed that data from Bavaria and other states showed that women resort to assisted suicide at a greater rate than men. According to the data, the percentage of women in assisted suicide cases reached 60 percent in Switzerland in 2023 and about 52 percent in Austria in 2024.
Barbara Schneider from the Executive Director of the National Suicide Prevention Program in Germany believes that there is an urgent need to take action, especially with regard to elderly women: “Although most suicide cases still occur among men, the development among elderly women is particularly worrying. There is a group at risk whose numbers are increasing significantly and we must develop targeted and accessible support programs for them.”
Regarding the reasons for this increase, suicide researcher Ute Lewitzka from the University of Frankfurt told the Evangelical News Agency that the rise in suicide cases is also a phenomenon linked to crises. Financial hardship and instability increase suicidal tendencies in people with risk factors. Social media can also play a role in this. The psychiatrist criticized the German health system for not providing sufficiently accessible help. Obtaining external psychological treatment requires initiative and perseverance, which are things that many people suffering from psychological pressure lack.
In addition to improving prevention measures, Lewitzka called for providing better care for people at risk of suicide and providing more palliative care services. “We also urgently need better rules regarding assisted suicide,” she said. She explained that these services are justified, but there are actually service providers who exploit them for commercial gain.
