Suicide rates highest in farmers, lumberjacks, fishermen

NEW YORK — In a study of suicide rates by occupation, the workers that killed themselves most often were farmers, lumberjacks and fishermen.

Dentists, doctors and other health care professionals had an 80 percent lower suicide rate than the farmers, fishermen and lumberjacks.



Because of the limited data, they could only calculate suicide rates for broad occupation categories, but not for specific jobs.

Public attention often focuses on teens and college students, but the highest numbers and rates are in middle-aged adults.