Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database, January 2006 to June 2026
Released: 2026-10-29
This release of The Daily discusses details of suicide which may be triggering to some. If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, help is available. You are not alone. Call or text 9-8-8. Support is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
According to the preliminary information from the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database (CCMED) released today, from 2006 to 2024, coroners and medical examiners investigated approximately 14% of all deaths occurring in Canada, although this proportion varied over time. The proportion of investigated deaths declined from 15.6% in 2006 to 12.7% in 2015, before increasing to 14.9% by 2024. The increase in investigations since 2015 may be attributed to several factors: some jurisdictions require investigation of medical assistance in dying deaths by a coroner or medical examiner (C/ME), increases in substance-related toxicity deaths and increases in other types of deaths observed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Provincial and territorial C/MEs are responsible for investigating and classifying deaths that are unexpected, unexplained, suspected of being violence-related or believed to be caused by injury or substances. These investigations help establish the identity of the deceased person and the cause and manner of death, while providing information that supports efforts to reduce preventable deaths in Canada.
While C/ME investigations encompass a wide range of manners of death, suicide remains an important focus because of its significant public health impact. Information collected through the C/ME investigation plays an important role in understanding the circumstances surrounding suicide deaths and informing suicide prevention efforts. From 2006 to 2024, approximately 76,965 suicide deaths were investigated by C/MEs in Canada.
Suicides account for a greater proportion of death investigations among 15- to 29-year-olds and among males
From 2006 to 2024, suicides accounted for 11% of death investigations in Canada. This proportion was highest among 15- to 29-year-olds (26%). According to the Vital Statistics - Death database, suicide is the second leading cause of death in Canada for this age group, following accidents, which may explain its larger proportion of investigated suicide deaths. Smaller proportions were observed in older age groups.
Among investigated deaths, suicides accounted for a proportion over 1.6 times higher among males (13%) compared with females (8%). This pattern remained relatively stable over time.
Males are more likely to die by suicide than females across all age groups 15 years and older
From 2006 to 2024, more males (57,965 deaths) died by suicide than females (18,980 deaths). The difference between the sexes was observed across all age groups, except for the group aged 5 to 14 years, in which slightly more females than males died by suicide. Among the population aged 15 years and older, the rate of suicide deaths among males (21.1 deaths per 100,000 population) was approximately three times higher than among females (6.6 per 100,000). This difference was most pronounced among adults aged 80 years and older, among whom the rate of suicide deaths for males (23.1 deaths per 100,000 population) was six times higher than the rate for females (3.8 per 100,000).
Adults aged 80 years and older are a growing segment of the Canadian population, making it increasingly important to better understand suicide in this age group. The CCMED provides additional insights into some of the factors that may contribute to suicide among older adults. The accompanying fact sheet uses information collected through C/ME investigations to examine the demographic characteristics and circumstances surrounding suicide deaths among adults aged 80 years and older.
Note to readers
The Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database (CCMED) was developed in 2008 by Statistics Canada in collaboration with the provincial and territorial chief coroners and chief medical examiners and with the Public Health Agency of Canada. Currently, the CCMED combines death investigation data from all provincial and territorial databases, except Manitoba. The database contains detailed information on the demographics of the deceased person (e.g., age, sex, date of death, province or territory), cause and manner of death, related health conditions and circumstances of death.
All data are considered preliminary and include open and closed cases from all jurisdictions except Quebec. For Quebec, only information on closed cases is included. Closed cases are completed death investigations (i.e., the cause and manner of death are final). Open cases refer to ongoing investigations (i.e., the cause and manner of death are pending or preliminary). Data may be updated with future releases as death investigations are finalized.
Selected jurisdictions investigate stillbirths as per their provincial or territorial legislation. Stillbirths are included in the calculation of the overall proportion of deaths investigated by coroners or medical examiners and in the calculation of the provincial or territorial totals but are excluded from the calculation of statistics related to age, sex and manner of death.
Suicide rates are calculated based on the CCMED data and, for reasons of timeliness, may differ from those published elsewhere on the Statistics Canada website.
In some jurisdictions, medical assistance in dying deaths were classified as suicide from 2016 to 2019. These deaths were excluded from the suicide counts included in the above analysis.
Counts referenced in this release were rounded to a neighbouring multiple of five.
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The fact sheet "Circumstances surrounding suicide deaths among adults aged 80 years and older in Canada, 2016 to 2023," is now available as part of the series Statistics Canada – Health Fact Sheets (82-625-X).
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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