that surround specific health needs of men. One of the main areas of concern is the high rate of suicide amongst young Australian males. Australia rates fourth in the world for suicide behind Iceland, Finland and New Zealand; there are 16.7 suicides per 100 000 people. However when this is broken down by gender, males rate at 26.7 and females at 6.4 per 100 000. The age-specific pattern of suicide has changed over the past 20 years. During the 1970s suicide rates tended to increase with age for both males and females. For males this pattern changed in the 1980s and 1990s. In this period the youth suicide rate increased and suicide rates at older ages decreased. Suicide has been linked to a number of social issues such as drug and alcohol dependency, family breakdown, socioeconomic disadvantage, unemployment and social expectations. Men are four times more likely to commit suicide than women; amongst young males, it is five times. There is some evidence to suggest that the actual attempt rates for suicide between males and females is similar but that males are more successful in their attempts and thus higher overall suicide rates. One of the other major concerns is that the rate of suicide for men in rural areas is considerably higher than urban areas. Reasons for this remain speculative but indications are social expectations, rural-urban migration leading to further pressure on those who remain in small urban centres, the changing nature of society and changing views on masculinity.