Objective: The purpose of this study was to analysis the determinants and trend of suicidal ideation the elderly in Korea. Methods: Thisstudy participants were selected the elderly over the age of 55 from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in2001(n=1,122), 2005(n=2,098), and 2010(n=2,402). Statistical analysis methods used in this study were χ 2 -test, logistic regression analysisand other basic statistics such frequency, percentage using SPSS version 21.0. Results: In 2001, the influencing factors of suicidal ideationwas spouses, subjective health status and stress recognition. In 2005, the influencing factors of suicidal ideation were spouses, subjectivehealth status, chronic disease amount, activity limitation, depression experience and stress recognition. In 2010, the influencing factorsof suicidal ideation were elderly, education level, subjective health status, activity limitation, depression experience and stress recognition. Conclusions: The health education considering the characteristics of each elderly group should be developed and applied to prevent adults’suicidal ideation because the factors influencing suicidal ideation were revealed differently between the elderly group.