Suicide is the biggest killer of young adults in Europe – but not for the reason you might think

 

Suicide is now the leading cause of death amongst young adults in Europe and accounts for almost one in five fatalities in those aged 15 to 29, a major study has found.

The report from Eurofund, a European Union research agency focused on living conditions, found that the long-term decline in suicide death rates across the EU began to plateau in 2017, and has since begun to creep back up – particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey of all 27 EU member states showed that in 2021, approximately 18.9 per cent of deaths amongst young adults – or 4,973 people – were attributed to suicide, with Bulgaria, Ireland, Malta and Romania having the highest rates.

In 2022, suicide killed 4,971 young people aged between 15 to 29, down slightly from 4,973 in 2021 but up from 4,903 in 2020.

The report suggests a variety of factors may have contributed to the recent rise in suicides and worsening mental health, from the cost-of-living crisis and the shift to remote working after the pandemic, to “climate change, social insecurity, inequality, and people’s concerns about their economic situation”.

Yet the report’s findings only tell part of the story.

While suicide rates have risen, the fact that it has become the leading cause of death may owe more to a significant decline in road traffic fatalities – the previous top killer of young adults in Europe until 2019.

Since 2011, deaths from road accidents have fallen by more than 53 per cent across the EU, according to the European Commission.

In 2021, road traffic collisions accounted for 16.5 per cent of deaths amongst young people — a total of 4,332 lives lost – compared to 19.45 per cent in 2019.

The sharp decline has been largely attributed to the introduction of new road safety measures.

These include stricter drink-driving limits, cross-border enforcement of driving bans, and efforts to remove unsafe vehicles from circulation, all of which have contributed to a notable drop in traffic-related deaths, particularly in Eastern European countries like Poland and Slovenia.

Lithuania, for example, has managed to slash road traffic deaths by more than half between 2011 and 2021.

With road accidents continuing to decline, it appears that suicides will probably remain the biggest killer of young Europeans in the foreseeable future, making tackling the underlying causes of the trend key for European governments.

In general, those at highest risk include people with lower incomes or levels of education, people who are separated or widowed, people who experience homelessness, and refugees, Eurofund found.

The issue, the report’s authors note, is “profoundly gendered,” with men being 3.7 times more likely to die by suicide than women, although there has been an increase in suicide in girls under 20 – driven in large part by “problematic social media use”.

In Germany for example, the researchers found that around one in 16 children were already addicted to social media or digital games by 2019 – more than double the rate from four years earlier.

They also found that, while many EU countries have provisions for free or affordable mental healthcare, barriers remain for many to access specialised services like child psychiatry, especially in rural areas.

Less than half of those who have suffered mental health problems rated the quality of the mental healthcare they received positively.

Hans Dubois, Eurofound Senior Research Manager, said early intervention in schools and workplaces, as well as tackling stigma and discrimination around mental health, was crucial.

“When poor mental health festers, it can have the gravest of consequences,” he said.

“On a fundamental level, improving mental health in Europe means improving living and working conditions, including through social and employment inclusion. When progress in these areas stalls, and people feel they are not progressing in their lives, mental health suffers.”