BRITAIN: Britain's suicide rate for young men has plunged to its lowest level in two decades and is nearly 30 per cent below its peak in 1998.
Part of the reason, the government said yesterday, was legislation limiting the number of painkilling pills people can buy at any one time.
"The overall rate of suicides is at the lowest rate ever recorded and we are seeing a sustained downward trend," Prof Louis Appleby, the national director of mental health, said. "I'm particularly encouraged with the reduction in suicide rates in young men."
Latest figures show that in males aged 20-34 years there were 19.16 suicides per 100,000 deaths in 2001-2003, compared to 23.2 in 1996-98.
Hanging and suffocation were the most common method of suicide in men and account for nearly half of all male suicide deaths, according to the government report.
Overall suicide death rates have fallen to 8.6 deaths per 100,000 from 9.2 in 1995-1997.
The Health Minister, Ms Rosie Winterton, said part of the reason for the fall was legislation ordering pharmaceutical companies to reduce the size of paracetamol and aspirin packs.
The 1998 law cut the size of packs that painkillers were sold in and limited the number of tablets retailers were allowed to sell.
Researchers from Oxford University showed that selling the painkillers in smaller-sized packs cut suicides caused by overdoses in the three years after the law was introduced.