In England and Wales the deaths of 3,904 males in 1999 were officially recorded as suicide or the cause was undetected. The deaths of 1,284 women were similarly listed. These figures include the deaths of infants, but the familiar pattern of a high number of suicides among men aged 30-40 is repeated, with 500 suicides in the 30-34 age group and 476 in the 35-39 group.
According to the Samaritans charity group, the rate of suicide among men in Britain increases from age 18 because men are unwilling to talk about their problems. They treat depression as a "guilty secret" that must be kept from family and friends and often find it difficult to express their fears about unemployment, a key factor despite the decrease in unemployment in the last five years.
In Scotland a similar pattern is found, with the numbers of suicides among men far outnumbering those among women. In 1999 there were 771 suicides - 585 men and 186 females compared with 486 men and 181 women in 1991.
By monitoring emergency hospital referrals for deliberate self-poisoning or injury, the Samaritans estimated attempted suicides in England and Wales. In 1998, 142,000 were recorded. But the organisation says many suicide attempts are not referred to hospitals by GPs and may be managed in local surgeries.
There is also growing concern about the rate of suicide among remand prisoners, particularly in England and Wales.