World Suicide Prevention Day is marked each year to draw attention to the large and avertable burden of self-harm and suicide. Based on WHO’s newly released Global Health Estimates for 2016, close to 800 000 people died by suicide in 2016, equivalent to 10.8 suicides per 100 000 population. The rate of suicide in the WHO European Region is even higher, reaching 13 per 100 000 for both sexes combined, and in excess of 20 suicides among males. In the most affected countries of the Region (e.g. Kazakhstan, Lithuania and the Russian Federation), the rate among males exceeds 40 per 100 000.