Suicide Risk Among Transgender Young People

Research and clinical data consistently show an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, and suicide among transgender young people compared with their cisgender peers.

Elevated risk

Research and clinical data consistently show an elevated risk of suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts, and suicide among transgender young people compared with their cisgender peers. International bodies such as the WHO and CDC confirm this picture.

Interpretation

Figures are often exaggerated or oversimplified in public debates. Suicide mortality is genuinely elevated, but lower than the sometimes-cited percentages for lifetime suicidal ideation. The Dutch cohort study by Wiepjes (2020) showed that suicide mortality remains elevated even after medical transition.

Recommendations

International guidelines and the Cass Review emphasize that suicide prevention requires broader mental health care and cannot be addressed solely through medical transition. Specific crisis interventions, social support, and treatment of comorbidities are essential.

What the figures show

Research on the English youth clinic found four suicides between 2010 and 2020 among approximately fifteen thousand patients, including those on the waiting list. That is more than among their peers, but far lower than the percentages cited in public debate; those figures usually concern suicidal thoughts, not deaths. A 2024 Finnish register study found that the elevated risk among young people referred to a gender clinic was largely associated with psychiatric problems they already had.

Transition or suicide

Parents are sometimes told that their child faces a high risk of suicide without treatment. The Cass Review found no evidence that puberty blockers or hormones reduce that risk. In 2024, British professor Louis Appleby, the government’s suicide prevention adviser, examined the claim that the number of suicides had risen after prescribing blockers was restricted. The data did not support that claim. Appleby warned that the way this subject is discussed can itself be harmful to vulnerable young people. A widely cited American study on legislation and suicide attempts among young people also came under criticism; transouders.nl discusses that analysis.

Help

Take every statement about suicide seriously and ask about it directly; talking about suicide does not increase the risk. Contact your GP and make sure that depression, anxiety, or trauma are treated, even if someone is undergoing a gender-related care pathway. Are you thinking about suicide or worried about someone? Call 113 Suicide Prevention at 0800-0113 or chat via 113.nl. In immediate danger, call 112. See also depression and transgender people.