Suicide continues to be a major killer of men in many parts of the EU.
Figures from Scotland suggest that the number of men taking their own lives has risen by almost a quarter in 15 years. The suicide rate was notably higher in deprived areas.
A study for the Scottish Executive found a 22% increase in the male suicide rate between 1989 and 2004. (Over the same period, there was a 6% rise in female suicides.) The rate in Glasgow was ‘significantly higher’ than the average for both men and women.
In Belgium, suicide rates are similarly distorted with 11 in every 100,000 women taking their own lives in 1997 compared to 31 men. The ages at which Belgian men are most likely to commit suicide is between 35 and 54 and over 75.
In most western countries, with the exception of some around the Meditteranean, suicide has been increasing since the 1950s. In Belgium, a country of 10 million people, it now kills seven people a day.
- An editorial on male suicide in Scotland will appear on emhf.org next month.
