People 65 and older make up about 12 percent of the U.S. population, but they make up 20 percent of the suicides. Three other Florida metropolitan areas Jacksonville, West Palm Beach-Boca Raton and Miami were among the 10 areas with the highest rates. The study hasn't been repeated, so it's unclear how Tampa fares today. But it probably hasn't changed dramatically, said Lanny Berman, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based association. Together, white men and women account for 90 percent of all suicides.
Suicide steals youth with frightening frequency.
Between 1952 and 1995, the suicide rate for children and young adults nearly tripled, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 1997, more teenagers and young adults died from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, pneumonia, influenza, birth defects and stroke. The rate for black males rose 105 percent between 1980 and 1996. Illness a factor in suicide. As many as 95 percent of those who die of suicide had a diagnosable psychiatric illness, Jamison said.