Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall yesterday released provisional suicide statistics for the 2020-21 financial year.
They showed 55 suspected suicides in the Southern District Health Board area, compared to 50 the year before.
It was the second-highest number in more than a decade, lower only than the 65 recorded in the 2017-18 year.
Nationally, suspected suicides dropped from 628 in 2019-20 to 607 in the past year.
Life Matters Suicide Prevention Trust founder Corinda Taylor, of Dunedin, said the numbers were concerning.
"There’s just so much more that we can do in this space," she said.
"People that are asking for help should be able to get help straight away."
She believed having the statistics broken down in more detail would be helpful in establishing trends in particular areas, for example, if economic issues caused by Covid-19 for Queenstown’s tourism sector were having any impact.
She also believed the full impacts of Covid on mental health were still to be seen.
The number of mental health and attempts/threatens suicide callouts police are attending have also increased.
From January to August this year, Southern police received 2878 calls in those categories.
During the same period the year before, they received 2328.
Judge Marshall said understanding what a change in numbers and rates from one year to the next meant was difficult because they could fluctuate considerably.
“But it is heartening to see that the year’s figures show fewer deaths overall.”
Among Maori populations there was a decrease in suspected suicides from 19.8 per 100,000 people to 15.8, but for Pacific populations there was an increase in the suspected suicide rate from 7.2 to 9.6.
More broadly, there was a decrease in suspected suicides for females and males in the 15-24 age range, from 12.6 to 11.4 among females and 22.7 to 22.2 among males.
“The suspected suicide rate and number has declined, which is encouraging. But it’s important to remember the many families who have lost someone, and I offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who died by suspected suicide in the past year,” Judge Marshall said.
Suicide Prevention Office director Carla na Nagara said it was the second consecutive year numbers had decreased nationally, but evidence showed there was a need for a decline over at least a five-year period before a meaningful downward trend in suicide numbers and rates could be established.
