Objective: The objectives are to describe the epidemiological profile of suicide cases of the 4th largest city (2.6 million people) in Brazil-Fortaleza in the last ten years and to correlate age and methods of suicide, gender, year, month of the year and civil state in all suicide cases registered in this period.Methods: Suicide data were collected from the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Fortaleza, which is the state institution responsible for all data observed in violent deaths.A total of 1979 cases of suicide were notified.Results: 140 suicides (5.3%) are below 18 years, 616 (23.4%) were from 19 to 29 years, 996 (37.8%) between 30 and 60 years, finally 183 (6.9%) were over 60 years old.In the period studied, in all age groups predominated in male suicides and rate (M∶ F) of suicides increased progressively with increasing age, and observed the rate of 9∶1 in the age group above 60 years.The most common used methods of suicide for all ages in descending order were: hanging (N =937), poisoning (N =480) and firearms (N =182).In the age below 18 years nearly two thirds of suicides occurred at night, while in the elderly, the proportion was similar, about two thirds, but in the daytime.December had the highest incidence of suicide among all ages, except for people over 60 years.Conclusion: There was a predominance of suicides in the age group 30-60 years, with prevalence of males.The men: women ratio in the elderly is the highest.Based on this, measures for suicide prevention should focus their efforts on the predominant age group and also among the elderly, especially in men.