Suicide biggest killer of young men under age of 25
Male suicides rose by 4.6% from 390 in 2015 to 408 in 2019, while female suicides were 8.4% higher in 2019 at 116 compared with 107 such deaths recorded in 2015
Suicide was the biggest killer of young men aged under 25 in the country, while the number of suicides in the capital jumped by an alarming 46% over a five-year period, latest figures show.
A new report by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed that 524 people died by suicide in 2019 — 16 fewer than in 2018 but up 5.4% compared to the figure five years previously.
The figure of 524 marks an increase of 134 compared to the provisional preliminary return for 2019, first published late last year — and a senior statistician said an even more pronounced "backlog" could impact on any final figure for 2020, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The CSO analysed the number of suicides in the 2015-2019 period and found that male suicides rose by 4.6% from 390 in 2015 to 408 in 2019, while female suicides were 8.4% higher in 2019 at 116 compared with 107 such deaths recorded in 2015.
According to the CSO: "Among young males, aged under 25 years, suicide was the number one cause of death in 2019. For females in the same age bracket, suicide was the third highest cause of death for the same period."
For young men, suicide accounted for 22% of total deaths in that age category.
The data also showed a huge increase in the number of people who died by suicide in the capital across the five-year period. The number of deaths by suicide in Dublin rose by 46% between 2014 and 2019, compared with an increase of 14% in the same period in the Mid-West, and a 5% increase in the South-West. Four of the regions reported a decrease in the same period: South-East (-18%), Border (-16%), West (-10%), and Mid-East (-8%), while the Midlands region was unchanged.
The standardised suicide rate in 2017 — the year for which there is latest available data — was 10.1 per 100,000 of the population for the EU-28 member states compared with 11.0 in Ireland. The rate in Ireland is significantly higher than that of the UK, where it stood at 7.4.
Chief Statistician in the CSO's vital statistics section, Ger Doolan, said figures typically vary between an initial annual return, published 22 months after the year in question, and any "final" figure. But he said the pandemic and its impact could be more pronounced for the years 2020 and 2021.
"It wouldn't be too far of a jump to say that if all deaths [including those possibly attributable to suicide] referred to coroner and for a large portion of 2020 those services were not available, there is going to be a backlog," he said.
"There is going to have to be a catch-up or more of an impact, potentially."
Samaritans said it was saddened to see the number of lives, particularly young lives, lost to suicide.
Mark Kennedy, assistant director at Samaritans Ireland, said: “Behind every number and statistic is a person who has lost their life and family, friends and often communities left grieving, and we think of them at this time.
“It is difficult to see that despite supports, suicide was the number one cause of death for young males aged under 25 years in 2019 and was the third highest cause of death among females.
“We urge anyone who is distressed, or who feels a loved one might be struggling to cope, to reach out for help.”
* www.samaritans.org / call 116 123
