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THE rate of suicide in the US has reached its highest point since the end of the second world war.

A report from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says the US suicide rate increased from 10.5 suicides per 100,000 people in 1997 to 14 per 100,000 in 2017, up 33 per cent.

The CDC’s statistics show that, in recent years, there has been a marked increase in suicide among US people aged 15 to 24 and those aged 25 to 34, although the highest rates remain among those who are middle-aged.

For men and women aged 45-64, the suicide rate was highest among people who are white.

Men have historically died by suicide at higher rates than women, and that trend continues in the new report. Despite that, there are some outliers. The largest increase in suicide rates for women was among people who are of Native American ancestry. The suicide rate in this group went from 4.6 to 11 per 100,000 over 18 years. That is an increase of 139 per cent.

For men, the same group saw the highest increase, with a jump from 19.8 to 33.8 per 100,000 people, an increase of 71 per cent. The CDC’s National Center for ÎçÒ¹¸£Àû1000¼¯ºÏ Statistics said in the report that people of Native American ancestry are sometimes misclassified as being part of other ethnic groups, so deaths could be underestimated by as much 33 per cent.