Suicide rates in Flanders decreasing, except among young women

The number of suicides continued to fall in 2021 but still remained alarmingly high at 2.5 per day. Among young women, the rate has even increased sharply, according to the latest annual report of the Flemish Expertise Centre for Suicide Prevention.

In 2021 (the most recent figures), 913 people died by suicide in Flanders. While that remains a high figure, it is again slightly lower than a year earlier. In the longer term, there does seem to be a big drop, said Flemish Minister for Welfare Hilde Crevits.

"The number of suicides has fallen, by a third since the year 2000 even. This is good news, but we remain a region with high figures," she said. "Certainly the group of women under 30 is of extra concern to us, because – unlike other groups – we see an increase there."

While there was a slight decrease in suicides among men (-1%) compared to 2020, they remain the group with the highest mortality rate as they account for 70% of suicide victims. The provinces of East Flanders and West Flanders have the highest death rates.

Covid and social media pressures

For women, there is an increase of 22% – mainly in the 15-29 age group. One hypothesis is that this group of women might have suffered more as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as opposed to other groups, said Gwendolyn Portzky, Director of the Flemish Expertise Centre for Suicide Prevention.

"For young people in general, that was a difficult period. Specifically for girls, we suspect this is mainly to do with social media. Those have become more important during the Covid period to keep in touch and girls are more sensitive to the pressure that comes with it," she said.

For both men and women, suicide is still one of the main causes of death in Flanders among people in their twenties, thirties and forties. Crevits' new action plan builds on the strengths of the previous action plans and focuses on new developments in suicide prevention. "Reducing suicide rates is and remains a priority. The goal is to reduce suicide mortality rates by 10%, in the period from 2020 to 2030."

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She stressed that together with the Flemish Centre for Suicide Prevention, the Centres for Mental Health Care and the helpline 1813, the authorities provide coaching and training for counsellors and offer tools for the detection and treatment of suicidal thoughts and behaviour.

"We also invest heavily in research and registration of suicide attempts because previous suicide attempts are considered one of the biggest risk factors for subsequent suicide or suicide attempts," Crevits said. "It is, therefore, crucial to map this well to take targeted action."