Number of deaths by suicide fell overall last year

Suicide among young people dropped by more than 20 per cent last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

And overall deaths by suicide fell by more than 6 per cent. But among older people, suicides have increased by more than a quarter.

The CSO vital statistics show there were 475 suicides registered in 2013 compared with 507 in 2012.

The number of deaths by suicide in people aged 15-24 was 57 last year, down by more than 20 per cent on 2012, when there were 74 such deaths.

But the suicide figures for people aged 45 to 54 years increased from 86 in 2012, to 108 last year. This age group had the highest number of registered suicides for both men and women, with male deaths making up 80 per cent of the total.

People living in some areas of the country also seemed more vulnerable to suicide than others, according to the statistics.

While the average rate across the State was 10.3 per 100,000 people, Cavan had a 20.4 rate, the figure was 20 for Carlow and 19.4 for Kerry. The lowest rate of recorded suicide was nil in Leitrim and 2.1 in Waterford City. However, there may also be variations in how suicides are registered.

The national suicide prevention and bereavement charity Console said it was concerned at the rise in suicides in the older age group.

Director of services Ciarán Austin said it mirrored a rise in calls to the charity's helpline from people in the 45-54 age category.

“In particular, we saw a huge increase in calls to our rural helpline in 2013 due to the fodder crisis,” he said.

He described the regional data as alarming and said the charity also examines deaths categorised as of undetermined intent when looking at suicide. These have shown a drop from 82 in 2012 to 65 in 2013.

“However, we need significant changes and investment in research as the lack of accurate up-to-date information is impeding our ability to understand and respond to the awful tragedy of suicide in a timely fashion,” he said.

The charity welcomed the drop in suicides in the 15-24 age group but said Ireland still had the fourth highest suicide rate in the EU in that category.

“Console is calling for a real-time register of suicide data so that resources can be targeted at areas to prevent clustering,” Mr Austin said.

The console 24-hour helpline is 1800 247 247.

In other data released by the CSO today, the number of births to teenagers continued to decline, down from 1,639 in 2012 to 1,381 last year. Since 2001, the rate of teenage births has almost halved.