Objectives: to identify the risk and degree of risk of suicide in nursing students of a public institution in the countryside of Pernambuco, Brazil.
Methods: this was a cross-sectional, quantitative research conducted with 150 students. For data collection, a sociodemographic questionnaire and the instrument, M.I.N.I. - Brazilian version 5.0.0 - Module C - Risk of suicide were used. Statistical analyses were performed with IBM(® )SPSS(®), version 23.
Results: 53.3% of nursing students had a risk of suicide, of which 20.7% had a high risk. Moreover, 22.67% reported previous suicide attempt. It is noteworthy that students without a partner have a higher risk of suicide (56.8%) than those with a partner (29.4%).
Conclusions: it is perceived the need to develop programs that identify students at risk of suicide in higher education institutions, in order to raise awareness of the problem and implement policies to promote mental health in the academia.