Eleven people died per day by suicide in Spain in 2021, which means a suicide mortality rate of 8.45 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The report “Evolution of suicide in Spain in this millennium (2000-2021)” warns about this increasing trend in mortality.
CIBERSAM researchers Alexandre De la Torre, Víctor Pérez and José Luis Ayuso. Image provided by the Complutense University of Madrid
The suicide rate in Spain continues to rise. Specifically, 4.003 people have died by suicide during the year 2021according to the data provided by National Institute of Statistics (INE).
For its part, the pandemic has only aggravated the situation and increased the numbers, especially in certain social groups.
Researchers from the Complutense University of Madridfrom Center for Biomedical Research in Mental Health Network (CIBERSAM) and of Barcelona Sea Hospital have presented the report “Evolution of suicide in Spain this millennium (2000-2021)”.
The study was carried out by CIBERSAM researchers Alexandre de la Torreprincipal investigator of the Research Group in Psychiatric Epidemiology and Mental Health at the Complutense University of Madrid; Victor Perez, director of the Institute of Neuropsychiatry and Addictions at the Hospital del Mar (INAD) and professor of Psychiatry at the Autonomous University of Barcelona; i Jose Luis Ayusoprofessor in Psychiatry and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Research and Training in Mental Health Services at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
Results of the study
The results of the analysis reflect a growing trend of suicide mortality in Spain since 2018.
In addition, it has been particularly marked during 2021, where an annual growth of 6% compared to 2018, the year in which cases began to increase.
The strength is evident from the figures impact of the pandemic to the increase in suicide mortality in Spain.
What are the population trends?
Sex and age
Eleven people died per day by suicide in Spain during 2021, which means a suicide mortality rate of 8.45 dead for every 100,000 inhabitants.
The figures reveal that 3 out of 4 people who died by suicide that year were menspecifically, 2982 cases.
Half of the dead were between the ages of 40-64.
In addition, the 31% of the dead was 65 or older, one 13.8% was between 25 and 39 years old and one 5% between 10 and 24 years.
In this way, there was no case of suicide in children under 10 years old during 2021.
Country of origin
The 87% of the people who died by suicide (3490 people) were born in Spain, while the 12.7% remaining, they were born in other countries.
A percentage that has also been increased compared to 2020.
Place of residence
Regarding the place of residence of the dead, it appears that most of them lived in large cities.
one 32% lived in provincial capitals and almost a quarter of the victims lived in rural areas (municipalities of less than 10,000 inhabitants) or urban municipalities of between 10,000-50,000 inhabitants.
The rest lived in large cities (more than 50,000 inhabitants).
As for the provinces where the highest suicide mortality rates are observed, they stand out Jaén, Zamora i Lugo.
And as the report shows, a total of 27 of the 50 Spanish provinces plus the two autonomous cities surpass the average world suicide mortalityl, indicated by the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2019.
temporary space
The study also shows that in virtually every month (except January and August) there are more people who died in 2021 than in 2019 and 2020.
Regarding the months, an increase in mortality is observed in the summer months, a pattern that has not changed in previous years.
The month where the most people died by suicide in 2021 was julywith 400 dead
Conclusions of the report
The death rate by suicide in Spain is dangerously close to the world average marked by the WHO, with figures that researchers speculate could be the effect of everything the pandemic has brought.
However, they note that the outlook is not at all promising, as the growing trend is expected to continue in 2022 as well.