Suicide rate rockets to highest level in 10 years
Tuesday 22 January 2013
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EmailStark statistics released today revealed what may be a shocking hidden social cost of the Con-Dem government's vicious cuts and austerity - more people are committing suicide.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the number of people taking their own life in Britain increased "significantly" in 2011 - a total of 6,045 suicides were recorded among people aged 15 and over.
That was up 437 or 8 per cent on the previous year.
And in echoes from the dark days of Thatcher in the early 1980s the suicide rate for men has rocketed to its highest for nine years, increasing 8 per cent to 4,552 - which, at a rate of 18.2 per 100,000, was the highest level since 2002.
Female suicides also rose 8 per cent to 1,493 or at a rate of 5.6 per 100,000.
The ONS said the number of people killing themselves in Britain increased from 11.1 to 11.8 per 100,000, while the highest suicide rate was among men aged 30 to 44 at 23.5 deaths per 100,000.
Among women, the highest number of suicides was among 45 to 59-year-olds at 7.3 per 100,000.
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