Suicide

Overview :

Suicide is considered a major public health problem around the world as well as a personal tragedy. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), suicide was the eleventh leading cause of death in the United States in 2000, and the third leading cause of death for people between the ages of 15 and 24. About 10.6 out of every 100,000 persons in the United States and Canada die by their own hands. There are five suicide victims for every three homicide deaths in North America as of the early 2000s. There are over 30,000 suicides per year in the United States, or about 86 per day; and each day about 1900 people attempt suicide.

The demographics of suicide vary considerably within Canada and the United States, due in part to differences among age groups and racial groups, and between men and women. Adult males are three to five times more likely to commit suicide than females, but females are more likely to attempt suicide. Most suicides occur in persons below the age of 40; however, elderly Caucasians are the sector of the population with the highest suicide rate. Americans over the age of 65 accounted for 18 percent of deaths by suicide in the United States in 2000. Geographical location is an additional factor; according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide rates in the United States are slightly higher than the national average in the western states, and somewhat lower than average in the East and the Midwest.

Race is also a factor in the demographics of suicide. Between 1979 and 1992, Native Americans had a suicide rate 1.5 times the national average, with young males between 15 and 24 accounting for 64% of Native American deaths by suicide. Asian American women have the highest suicide rate among all women over the age of 65. And between 1980 and 1996 the suicide rate more than doubled for black males between the ages of 15 and 19.