Suicide rate among children under 15 tripled last year, as researchers urge schools and media to do better

A university research centre has urged schools to strengthen mental health awareness among students after statistics revealed a rise in the suicide rate for children under 15 last year.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong announced the city’s latest suicide statistics on Thursday.

While the overall suicide rate fell from 13.8 per 100,000 residents in 2024 to 13 per 100,000 residents in 2025, the suicide rate among young teens increased in the same period.

💡If you are in need of support, please call: The Samaritans 2896 0000 (24-hour, multilingual), Suicide Prevention Centre 2382 0000 or the gov’t mental health hotline on 18111. The Hong Kong Society of Counselling and Psychology provides a WhatsApp hotline in English and Chinese: 6218 1084. See also: HKFP’s mental health services guide.

The suicide rate for those under 15 was 2.9 per 100,000 residents last year, up from 0.9 per 100,000 residents in 2024.

The research centre said there were 15 known suicide cases among this age group last year. Among them were 14 males and one female.

In 2024, there were six cases – one male and five females.

Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, researchers at the centre said schools should enhance mental health awareness and foster better peer relationships.

The release of the statistics comes one week after the start of the new school year.

Paul Yip, the centre’s founding director, said he hoped that teachers could support new students in their transition from primary to secondary school.

“You have a whole year to teach. In these first two weeks, it’s important to give them time to build relationships,” he said in Cantonese.

A majority of the students who died by suicide last year faced academic pressure and problems with peers, the centre added.

Research also showed that most of the suicides occurred at home, and that all suicide notes and expressions of suicidal ideation were in “digital form.”

In more than 30 per cent of the cases, the students were from Band A1 schools – the top tier of local secondary schools.

The centre’s statistics for this year are still preliminary figures based on numbers from the Coroner’s Court, which takes time to determine the causes and circumstances of deaths.

Media reporting

The centre also looked at how local media report on suicide, citing the “Werther effect,” which suggests that vulnerable individuals may imitate suicide when media present it in a sensational or detailed manner.

Researchers analysed 1,200 suicide-related news articles from six Chinese-language outlets – HK01, Sing Tao, Ming Pao, Oriental Daily, Hong Kong Economic Times, and AM730 – and evaluated whether they followed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for responsible reporting.

The centre found that media outlets were largely not compliant.

For example, articles reported the method of suicide in 62 per cent of the cases – going against the WHO’s guidelines stating that outlets should not provide such information.

Few articles mentioned warning signs as recommended by WHO, which says this could help readers recognise suicide risk in themselves or others.

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Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong.