LAST year, 1,543 Slovaks committed or attempted to commit suicide. Compared with 2010 this represented an increase of 51. The National Health Information Centre (NCZI) reported the statistics to mark World Suicide Prevention Day on September 10. The number of deaths by suicide decreased by 75 to 537 in 2011. But the number of unsuccessful suicide attempts increased significantly, rising from 880 in 2010 to 1,006 in 2011, the SITA newswire reported.
“In most cases the motivation for the suicide could not be precisely determined,” said Peter Bubla from NCZI, as quoted by SITA, adding that in cases where the reason was identified, internal personal conflict and problems with the effects of disease, conflict and family problems prevailed.
Men are more prone to commit suicide, accounting for 641 unsuccessful attempts and 457 suicides in 2011. Most deaths by suicide were registered in the 50-59-year age group. Most failed suicide attempts occurred in the 20-29-year category. Of all attempted suicide attempts, almost one half were assessed to be demonstrative suicidal conduct.
Banská Bystrica Region suffered the highest number of suicides (105), while Trnava Region had the fewest, with 35 cases. Bratislava Region had the most attempted suicides, with 187 cases, followed by Košice Region with 176 attempts. Prešov Region had the fewest, with 64 cases placed the last.
The most common means of suicide in Slovakia was hanging (accounting for the deaths of 320 men and 32 women), followed by shooting for men (39) and jumping from high places in the case of women (16).
