Is there a rural suicide problem?

Suggestions that youth suicide rates are disproportionately higher in rural areas were explored using Queensland cause‐of‐death data supplied by Queensland Health for the years 1986 to 1990. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were compared across three zones: urban, provincial and rural, for three age bands: all ages, 15 to 19 years and 20 to 29 years, for each sex. This Queensland study did not find a statistically significant excess of rural youth suicides. Further study of this phenomenon involving other states is called for.