Suicide by jumping from height

As a suicide prevention initiative, signs on the Golden Gate Bridge promote special telephones that connect to a crisis hotline, as well as a 24/7 crisis text line.

Jumping from a dangerous location, such as from a high window, balcony, or roof, or from a cliff, dam, or bridge, is a common suicide method. The 2023 ICD-10-CM diagnosis code for jumping from a high place is X80*, and this method of suicide is also known clinically as autokabalesis.^[1] Many countries have noted suicide bridges such as the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Other well known suicide sites for jumping include the Eiffel Tower and Niagara Falls.^[2]

Nonfatal attempts in these situations can have severe consequences including paralysis, organ damage, broken bones and lifelong pain.^[3][4] People have survived falls from buildings as high as 47 floors (500-feet/152.4 metres).^[5] Most think that jumping will lead to an instant death. However, in many cases, death is not instant.^[4]

Jumping is the most common method of suicide in Hong Kong, accounting for 52.1% of all reported suicide cases in 2006 and similar rates for the years before that.^[6] The Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention of the University of Hong Kong believes that it may be due to the abundance of easily accessible high-rise buildings in Hong Kong.^[7]

In the United States, jumping is among the least common methods of suicide (less than 2% of all reported suicides in 2005).^[8] However, in a 75-year period to 2012, there had been around 1,400 suicides at the Golden Gate Bridge. In New Zealand, secure fencing at the Grafton Bridge substantially reduced the rate of suicides.^[9]