988 Service Data | 9-8-8: Suicide Crisis Helpline

Call or Text 9-8-8

Leave Site

24/7/365
Crisis Support

How to use this page

This page is where you can find find key stats about the 9-8-8 service, listed by month.

Scroll down to see the most current available data – or select an option from the drop-down menu on the right to see data from previous months.

The “about” section below has more context about the monthly figures. You can also browse the FAQ section at the bottom of the page for more information about how we got these data and how we will use them.

About the May 2024 data release

Average wait times and average conversation lengths are based on data provided by 33 out of 39 9-8-8 partners.

Overview

9-8-8 received

36,335

calls and texts

Average wait time

1 minutes,
11 seconds

Calls

Total calls:

22,553

Average wait time

55 minutes,
0 seconds

Average length of call:

15 minutes,
40 seconds

SMS

Total SMS:

13,782

Average wait time

1 minutes, 34 seconds

Average length of conversation:

33 minutes, 28 seconds

Frequently Asked Questions

What happens to the people who end their call before getting through to a responder?

Sometimes, a call to 9-8-8 will end before the person gets through to a responder. There are a number of possible reasons for this. For example, it could be because of a technical issue or an issue with the person’s phone service, because they change their mind about wanting to talk to us at that time, or because they decide they don’t want to wait.

Average wait times for calls are low, and we are doing everything we can to keep them this way. We are sharing information on social media and through other channels about what people can expect when they call us. We hope this will help address any barriers or concerns that might cause people to change their mind about talking to us.

Why don’t some of these numbers add up?

We review 9-8-8 data before making certain calculations, and remove any spam calls or texts, or calls or texts that are routed to us in error. These calls and texts are included in the total incoming call and text numbers, but you won’t see them in other figures, such as the number of calls and texts that are answered/not answered. This is why, if you add up these numbers, you will get a different number to the total number of calls/text.

Why are you only sharing these few data points? What about data broken down by province and territory?

We want to make sure that the information we are providing is clear, meaningful and as accurate as possible. Since we are in the early days of the implementation of 9-8-8 we are still learning more about how data are collected and shared in different provinces and territories and how to make sure we’re sharing the most accurate information possible.

As we learn more, we will be adding more data to this page.

How will this data – and other data – be used to inform program improvement and quality?

Right now, we are looking at things like:

Number of calls and texts answered and wait times, to make sure we have enough responders available, especially at times when there are higher volumes.
Any regions or populations where we might be receiving lower numbers of calls or texts, so we can make sure we are promoting the services in these regions or populations as needed.
Any key themes or trends in concerns that people may have with our responders, so we can make sure responders have the training they need to support people.

However, 9-8-8 is still very new, and we will need more data over a longer period of time to inform service improvement.

How often will you update this page?

We will publish new data up to 90 days after the end of the month. We’ll post on social media each time we add new data – or you can check this page for updates.