The Rate Of Student Suicides Has Overtaken That Of The General Population

Student suicide rates have steadily been on the rise for a while and now new research has highlighted that the number of young people at university who have taken their own lives has reach an even more troubling milestone.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the student suicide rate has risen by 56 percent in the last 10 yearsand for the first time, it now exceeds the rate among young people in the general population. That means that the proportion of 20-24 year old students who have committed suicide is now higher than the total proportion of the population that 20-24 year olds make up in the UK.

These alarming new stats aren't just to do with there being an increase in the number of people going to university either. The study by the Hong Kong-based Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention found that the number of uni students in the UK rose by 5 percent between 2012 and 2016, but the total number of suicides had increased by 32 percent from 139 to 183 deaths over the same period of time.

It was also found that female students were particularly likely to have a higher suicide rate - their risk of suicide was 20 percent higher than young women not in higher education, reports the BBC. Needless to say, the situation is beyond awful but why is this happening and why have we reached this staggering point?

Concerns about the welfare and support available for students in today's climate has grown massively in recent years, especially as we've seen immense pressures mounted on NHS and university based mental health services that are unable to cope with the really high demand. Yet, we've arrived at a devastating scenario where suicide is becoming an issue attached to higher education specifically and possibly independent of the suicide rates within the wider population.

'Concerns about students' mental health have been increasing since the economic recession, but until now there has been no comprehensive analysis of UK student suicide data', said Edward Pinkney, co-author of the study. 'This is the first time we can conclusively say that as far as suicide is concerned, there is a real problem in higher education'.

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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.