Andalusia registered 14 suicides in children under 15 years of age and 300 in young people between 15 and 29 years of age in the pandemic year
Andalusia Registration in 2020year in which the pandemic of Covid-19, a total of 14 suicides in children under 15 years of age and 300 suicides in young people from 15 to 29, which was the leading cause of death in the community in people between the ages of 15 and 25. Some alarming figures that only emphasize the importance of the mental health in all age ranges.
In the community, in the mentioned year 793 suicides53 more deaths than in 2019 (740) and 140 more than in 2018 (653), which gives an average of one suicide every eleven hours -more than two a day- in Andalusia. Alcalá la Real, in Jaén, is the municipality in Spain with the highest suicide rate.
The 061 Health Emergencies Center has treated a total of 22,978 requests of assistance related to suicide threats and the calls to 061 in the past 2021 they increased by almost 38% compared to 2019.
For years, information regarding the suicides has been a controversial and even taboo topic in the political and media agenda since it was considered that it could encourage a pull effect, but experts agree that talking about suicide helps prevent it.
Mental health
According to data from the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, the coronavirus pandemic has caused a 47% increase in mental health disorders and the exponential increase in suicidal behavior, anxiety, eating disorders, addiction to technology, and drug use at a very early age. Cases of anxiety and depression they have tripled since 2019 and suicidal behaviors have increased by 59%.
As a result of these data, the Minister of Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality of the Junta de Andalucía, Loles López, has appealed to the responsibility of all Administrations to fight against this problem and has ensured that work is being done on the III Plan for Children and Adolescents of Andalusia. He also recalled that there is already a suicide prevention plan in the community.
For his part, the Managing Director of the Health Emergencies Center 061Fernando Ayuso, has remarked that the problem of “mental health in relation to suicidal behavior is a problem of great impact and that it continues to increase significantly in these years, as a result of the pandemic period.”
In 2020, 3,941 people they committed suicide in our country, almost eleven a day. 74% were men and 26% women. It was the year with the most suicides in the history of Spain since the data began to be recorded (1906).
