The expert told La Diaria that self-harm also appears more frequently in school-age patients.

On Suicide Prevention Day, the mortality rate for that cause was 13.38 per 100 thousand inhabitants among adolescents in 2024.

For adults aged 20 to 24 years it was 33.21 according to data from the Ministry of Public Health.

This includes 32 suicides – 20 males and 12 females – in the 15 to 19 age group, only one less than in 2023.

The figure continues downward from the peak of 45 cases recorded in 2022 and during the 2020-2022 period, when 40 suicides per year were exceeded.

Meanwhile, in the 20-24 age bracket, 85 such deaths – 70 males and 15 females – were recorded, eight more than in 2023, the highest figure in the last 10 years.

In the group of minors between 10 and 14 years of age, three suicides were reported.

In the total of 764 such deaths recorded in 2024, cases involving children under the age of 24 accounted for approximately 16 percent.

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