This study describes the epidemiology of suicide in Alaska on a statewide basis using data obtained from a manual review of death certificates, supplemented & validated by information in autopsy records. During 1983-84, 195 deaths were legally determined to be suicides. The ratio of male-to-female suicides was 4.9 to 1. Suicides occurred more than twice as often & at younger ages among Natives than among Whites. Results clearly define young Native Alaskan males as a very high-risk population.