Firearm suicide is a serious consequence of firearm proliferation and an aspect of armed violence. It constitutes a major health problem in Western cultures and an emerging issue in low-income countries.

Although public perception generally associates firearms with interpersonal violence, in Europe and North America firearm suicides outnumber firearm homicides. More than half of the global total of such suicides (52 per cent) are committed in North America, whereas 15 per cent occur in Western Europe, 14 per cent in South America, and 19 per cent in the rest of the world.