Suicide statistics
I was a bit down and searching on the web when I found some interesting statistics:
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Suicide accounted for 4,315 deaths in the UK in 1995, (approx 12 people per day.)
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2,185 deaths were recorded as "undetermined deaths" (where the intention of the people concerned to kill themselves was unclear.)
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The total was 6,500 deaths in 1995 (approx 18 people every day)
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Suicide accounts for approximately 1% of all deaths every year.
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The current suicide rate for the overall population is 10 per 100,000 per year.
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Suicide is responsible for more deaths per year than road traffic accidents.
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Nearly three times more men than women kill themselves every year (of the 6,500 suicides and undetermined deaths in 1995, 4,835 (74%) were men and 1,665 (26%) were women).
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A report commissioned by the US Government concluded that lesbian and gay youth were 2 or 3 times more likely to attempt suicide than other young people
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An estimated 100,000 people per year are referred to hospitals in England and Wales for deliberate self-harm, mainly involving drug overdoses or self-injury.
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90% of a sample of female self-injurers had cut themselves and one third had inflicted blows or scalded themselves,
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74% had begun self-injuring during childhood or adolescence (0-19yrs) and 69% had been inflicting injuries on themselves for more than five years.
(According to a survey performed for the Bristol Crisis Service for Women in 1994/95,)
source: (http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/html/content/brief001.cfm)