Suicide trends in Singapore between 1955-2004 were investigated. Suicides cases were identified from the Registry of Birth & Death, Singapore & analyzed using Poisson regression. Overall, suicide rates remained stable between 9.8-13.0/100,000 over the last 5 decades. Rates remain highest in elderly males, despite declines among the elderly & middle-age males in recent years. Rates in ethnic Chinese & Indians were consistently higher than in Malays. Some increase was noted in female Malays. Although there was no increase in overall suicide rates, risk within certain population segments changed over time. (36 refs.) JA