Drop in suicide rates for young men

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A study by the University of Bristol's Department of Social Medicine found the percentage of men aged 15 to 24 who take their own life has almost halved since a peak 18 years ago.

In 1990, there were 16.6 suicides for every 100,000 men aged 15-24 but by 2005 the rate had fallen to 8.5 per 100,000, the lowest level since 1974.

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, said catalytic converters on cars have reduced the number of lives taken using poisonous exhaust fumes but there has also been a fall in suicides by other methods including hanging - the most common method used by young men.

Researchers said factors which create an increased risk of a person committing suicide, such as unemployment and divorce, also decreased during the same period.

In men aged 25-34, the rate fell by a third from the peak rate of 27.8 deaths per 100,000 men in 1998 to 15.7 deaths per 100 000 men, the lowest level since 1978.

The report, entitled Suicide rates in young men in England and Wales in the 21st century: time trend study, said from 1950 to 1998 rates of suicide in men aged under 45 doubled in England and Wales, while rates in women and older men declined.

During the 1990s, suicide accounted for about a fifth of all deaths in young men.

Researchers said the suicide rate for young women had been more stable, remaining below four per 100,000 women for most of the period 1968 to 2004 and dropping to just above two per 100,000 by 2004.

The method women are most likely to use has changed, however, from self-poisoning to hanging.