France among highest EU suicide rates, health minister opens research centre

French health minister Marisol Touraine unveiled a new National centre for the study of suicide on Tuesday, as figures were released showing that France has one of the EU’s highest suicide rates.

chris@apl

Eurostat statistics reveal 14.7 suicides per 100,000 people compared with 9.9 in Germany and 6.4 in the UK and an EU average of 10.2 (figures cover period before Croatia entered the EU.)

Almost one third of French workers admitted they had considered suicide, according to Technologia, a company which examines risks in the workplace.

There has been a recent spate of public suicides linked to failure to find work or stress at work but apart from these specific incidents it is unclear why the rate is so high.

There are about 11,000 suicides per year and 220,000 attempts at suicide.

Health minister Marisol Touraine noted that there were three more times more suicides than deaths caused by road accidents.

Suicide is the main cause of death among 25-34 year olds and the second most common cause of death among 15-24 year olds.

0nly 25 per cent of French people are over 65 yet 30 per cent of suicides are committed by over 65s.