Century of suicide

The suicide rate in America recently hit a 30-year high and is still climbing, according to data released this month by the National Center for Health Statistics. Suicides were in decline from 1986 to 1998, but have risen 24 percent between 1999 and 2014, from 10.5 to 13 victims per 100,000 population. The largest increases were among females ages 10 to 14 and males between 45 and 64. The most frequent method for suicide among males is firearms (55.4 percent) and poisoning for females (34.1 percent). The pace of increase has also risen, from about 1 percent each year to 2 percent annually since 2006.