Toronto Star

May. 13, 01:00 EDT

Baby boomer suicide rate up 24 per cent: StatsCan

Toronto Star

OTTAWA (CP) — They may appear to have it all, but new data suggests Canada's baby boomers are more likely than people in other age groups to take their own lives, experts say.

Canada's suicide numbers jumped a startling 10 per cent in 1999, largely because so many 40-somethings took their own lives, Statistics Canada reported last week.

The suicide figures jumped by 24 per cent for people in that age group, while the number of teens who killed themselves dropped by 6 per cent, the agency reported.

Researchers are reluctant to speculate about a single-year spike, said Brian Mishara of the University of Quebec at Montreal.

But some of the risk may be related to an inability to adapt to social change, he said.

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