Suicide rates have risen nationwide during the economic downturn, but in Montgomery County, the upward trend is alarmingly steep.
From 2005 to 2011, the county’s suicide total rose 83.9 percent, according to state Health Department data.
Over the same period, the rates in Bucks, Chester, and Delaware Counties fluctuated year to year, but increased only slightly, following the trend in Pennsylvania and the United States.
Montgomery County had traditionally been below the national average. From 1990 to 2005, the county’s average rate was 9.67 per 100,000 people. (The national rate was 12.43 in 2010.)
Then the numbers started going up – 69 victims in 2006, 75 in 2007, 89 in 2008, 99 in 2009, 107 in 2010, and 114 in 2011. (more)
