Deprived Areas Linked To Suicide Rates - Health Minister

People living in deprived parts of Northern Ireland are three times as likely as others to commit suicide, the Health Minister has said.

Edwin Poots was speaking today to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.

He said factors that contributed to suicide rates - such as poverty, unemployment, addictions, educational under-achievement and mental illness - were among the biggest factors facing the executive as it sat down to a new year at Stormont.

Mr Poots said: "In 2010 and 2011, over 600 people took their own lives - this is a startlingly high figure."

Mr Poots said studies indicated that a 1% increase in unemployment was met with a corresponding 0.79% increase in suicide.

"It is therefore important to consider how the adverse psychological impact of redundancy and unemployment might be mitigated," he said.

"The executive is facing up the challenge of reducing suicide rates.

"In June 2012, I launched the Refreshed Protect Life Strategy which requires a greater commitment from a number of government departments to reduce suicide rates and will mean much closer working arrangements to achieve the actions set out in the strategy.

"I also met with the Ministerial Co-ordination Group on Suicide in June to discuss the actions that now need to be taken across government to reduce suicide rates in Northern Ireland."

Suicide has been in the news over the summer after a Queen’s University study found that a recent spike in people taking their own life in Northern Ireland could be linked to the end of the conflict here.

(NE)