The 024 Line, set up by the Ministry of Health to offer professional care and support for people affected by suicidal behaviour and their families, has received a total of 260,033 calls since it was set up on 10 May 2022.

Of these calls, 12,846 were referred to the 112 emergency service, to offer urgent care to the person in crisis.

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The 024 suicide hotline

It is important to note that each person can make more than one call and, therefore, we are not talking about 260,000 unique users, but about the number of calls received by the service.

Profile of calls
Women have made 101,915 calls and men, 84,103. Unspecified, 13,983; and others, 32 calls.

By age, from 5 to 9 years, there have been 7 calls; from 10 to 19 years, 10,080; from 20 to 29 years, 28,851; from 30 to 39 years, 23,084; from 40 to 49 years, 37,527; from 50 to 59 years, 42,674; from 60 to 69 years, 14,916; from 70 to 79 years, 7,281; from 80 to 89 years, 1,083; from 90 to 99 years, 45; and unspecified, 94,485 calls.

In terms of profile, a total of 148,446 calls were from users; 5,200 from family members; 18,472 from relatives; 143 from the educational environment; 477 from professionals; and 13,859 calls from others. There were also 23,419 silent calls, 695 from Emergencies, 8,555 non-relevant calls and 40,767 unspecified calls.

Table of calls in which the risk has been assessed

By Autonomous Community
With data up to 31 December 2023, taking into account only calls with an identified origin, it can be observed that, in relation to the users of the 024 Line, the highest percentage of calls attended come from Andalusia, followed by the Community of Madrid, Catalonia and the Community of Valencia.

At the national level, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), in 2022 there were 18,574 deaths due to external causes, 1,743 more than in the previous year (10.4%).

Suicide remains the leading cause of external death, with 4,227 deaths, reflecting an increase of 5.6% over 2021. Analysing the trend over the last 5 years according to INE data, a progressive increase can be seen, from 3,539 deaths in 2018, which represents a total increase of 19.5% in that period.

Service
The 024 Line is a specialised telephone and chat service, under the slogan ‘Call for Life’.

Its general objective is to reduce the level of emotional suffering and risk of suicidal behaviour of users. Its specific objectives are to make suicide visible in the general population, raise awareness of the seriousness of the problem and promote better attention to this issue at the community level; improve information and guidance for people with a high level of emotional suffering and risk of suicidal behaviour, as well as their close environment, providing them with tools and strategies to generate adaptive behaviours and adequately manage their emotional suffering; facilitate guidance, assistance and psychosocial accompaniment for the prevention of suicidal behaviour; and promote positive change in people at risk of suicidal behaviour, enabling them to face their life situation with the appropriate tools.