Changing of suicide rates in China, 2002-2015.

•Suicide rates in China significantly decreased from 2002 to 2015.•The decrease of China's suicide rates slowed down among the general population and the most subgroups around the year 2007, and even reversed among males aged 25–34 in rural and urban areas, and rural-males aged 45–54.•Male suicide rates were increasingly higher than females’ after 2006; rural suicide rates were about twice those of urban groups in recent years.