Hong Kong recorded 976 suicide deaths in 2025, 62 fewer than the 1,038 recorded in 2024, while the overall suicide rate fell from 13.8 to 13.0 per 100,000 people, according to figures from the University of Hong Kong’s Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention.
The figures showed a sharply different trend among people aged 15 or below. Their suicide rate rose from 0.9 to 2.9 per 100,000, with 15 cases recorded in 2025. Cases among boys rose from one in 2024 to 14 in 2025, while cases among girls fell from five to one.
The centre’s director, Yeh Siu-fai, said its analysis of nine cases involving boys aged 15 or below found that most occurred at home and involved study pressure or peer relationships. Three cases had previously been followed up by social workers. These are the centre’s observations and analysis, rather than independently verified causal findings.
The centre and related reports also said 32 per cent of youth suicide cases between 2022 and 2025 came from Band 1A schools. The available information does not state the underlying number of cases or explain the methodology used to classify the schools and match the data.
The centre and the Hong Kong Press Council reviewed 1,200 online reports about suicide published between December 2023 and November 2025. The review found that 99.6 per cent did not mention warning signs or risk factors, 97.8 per cent gave detailed locations, 65.5 per cent lacked suicide-prevention information and 62 per cent included detailed information about the method.
The centre has called on schools and parents not to focus only on academic results, and to give students more time and space to adjust and express their needs during changes such as the start of a school year. It also urged the media, social-media users and platform operators to avoid describing specific methods or locations, speculating about causes or portraying suicide positively, and to include crisis hotlines and other support resources.
The recommendations formed part of the centre’s latest guidance on suicide reporting, which was expanded to cover social-media users and platform operators. The centre said broader attention to young people’s mental health and safer communication about suicide were needed alongside earlier support.