Spain's Ministry of Health is drafting a royal decree to create a Mental Health Surveillance System that will provide homogeneous and systematic data on the population's mental health, anchored by a National Suicide Registry as its first specific instrument. Health Minister Mónica García announced the measure on 10 September 2026.
The new registry will draw on data from health, statistical, and forensic medical sources to improve understanding of suicide incidence and its associated factors. It is designed to detect case clusters, identify emerging methods, and track trend shifts — information the ministry intends to use to guide prevention policy, improve care responses, and strengthen support for people at risk and their families.
The Surveillance System will be integrated into the National Public Health Surveillance Network and will include a central unit coordinated with regional units, as well as a Technical Committee on Mental Health Surveillance tasked with establishing common procedures to ensure consistent operation across the country.
The announcement coincides with what the ministry describes as a favourable trend in suicide mortality. Provisional figures for 2025 record 3,808 deaths, compared with 3,953 in 2024, 4,116 in 2023, and 4,227 in 2022. If confirmed, this would represent a third consecutive annual decline. In 2024, 2,902 men and 1,051 women died by suicide, with a mortality rate of 8.09 per 100,000 inhabitants; provisional 2025 data place that rate at 7.71 per 100,000.
The registry forms part of the Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2025–2027, funded at €17.83 million annually in 2025 and 2026 for measures carried out by Spain's autonomous communities and the National Health Management Institute (INGESA). In 2025, 122 projects were funded under the plan, covering community-based prevention models, post-vention programmes for survivors and families, training for professionals and community workers, and interventions in educational and prison settings. For 2026, 110 projects have been submitted.
A cross-government Observatory for Suicide Prevention, already operational, brings together 16 ministries and bodies including the National Statistics Institute (INE), the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), and the forensic medicine institutes. It will drive working groups on surveillance, community prevention, responsible communication, research, social determinants, and institutional coordination, with participation from regional governments, universities, and civil society.
Since its launch on 10 May 2022 and through 30 June 2026, the public mental health helpline Línea 024 has handled 602,739 calls, in addition to 87,496 chat conversations.
Several verified sources, together with artificial intelligence, were used in the preparation of this article. The content was reviewed by our editorial team prior to publication. Disclosure provided in accordance with Article 50 of the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act).
