More people died through suicide than in road crashes in the past year, according to new coroners' figures.
In the year to the end of June, 511 suicides were reported to coroners - 1.4 self-inflicted deaths a day, the Dominion Post reported.
Suicides accounted for more than one-in-three coroners' cases, though a suicide prevention agency said numbers had fallen dramatically in the past decade.
There were 422 road deaths last year.
Suicide Prevention Information NZ director Merryn Statham said suicide numbers had fallen 19 per cent since 1997 but outnumbered road deaths for several years.
New Zealand had high teenage suicide rates when compared internationally, but 80 per cent of New Zealanders who took their own lives were over 24.
The preliminary figures are revealed in coroners' files on nearly 1500 "violent and unnatural" deaths since a new coronial system was introduced last year. Till now there has been a two-year lag on official suicide statistics.
In the same 12 month period, 87 fewer vehicle accident deaths were referred for coroners' investigations than suicides. Drowning was the next biggest type of death, with 101 cases, followed by head injury (66), homicide (64) and sudden infant death syndrome (50).
