Resolutely committed to suicide prevention, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health Marisol Touraine has installed a National Suicide Observatory in September 2013, to give the public authorities the means to act as far upstream as possible and to prevent suicide, with all the players concerned. This observatory has just published its first inventory and stresses on this occasion that the suicide rate in France is one of the highest in Europe. For all 28 countries of the European Union, the standardized rate of death by suicide was 12 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010. Metropolitan France, with a rate of 18, comes just after Finland, Belgium and most eastern countries.
Three times more suicides among men
In 2011, 11,400 deaths by suicide were recorded in metropolitan France. The number of deaths is significantly higher among men than among women: respectively 27.7 and 8.1 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, i.e. a rate three times higher among men. “This excess male mortality by suicide exists in almost all countrieswith the notable exception of China” emphasizes the Observatory.
The rate of death by suicide increases sharply with age: one in three people who commit suicide is over 60 years old. However, between the ages of 15 and 24, suicide represents 16% of all deaths and is the second leading cause of death after traffic accidents.
In 2011 the most frequent modes of suicide were hanging (53%), taking medication and other substances (14%), firearms (14%) and jumping from a high place (7%). These modes of death differ significantly by gender. For men, hanging is the cause of 58% of suicides and firearms 17%. For women, hanging (37%) and taking drugs and other substances (28%) are the most used methods.
Finally, the survey underlines that each year, approximately 70,000 people are hospitalized for attempted suicide (TS) outside the psychiatric department. Young girls aged 15 to 19 have the highest hospitalization rates (43 per 10,000 per year). Drug autointoxication is the procedure in eight out of ten cases, the most commonly used drugs being psychotropics.
Suicide in numbers
More than 11,000 people die each year in France by suicide. Suicide is the cause of one in fifty deaths. Nearly 200,000 people are taken care of each year by hospital emergencies after a suicide attempt.
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