More Australians Suiciding: Study

More people are taking their own lives in Australia while fewer are dying on the roads or drowning.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has released its annual cause of death study.

Intentional self-harm has risen as a cause of death in all age groups over 15 years during the past decade.

A total 2,492 people took their own lives last year, an extra 400 on the figure for 1989.

Road accident deaths dropped by about 1,000 and accidental drownings also fell slightly.

Cancer and heart disease remain the leading causes of death at 27 per cent and 22 per cent of all deaths respectively.

However, the rates for both problems have dropped markedly during the past decade, especially heart disease, which has fallen 39 per cent.






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