The industrial Silesia region, southern Poland, saw over 1100 people try to take their own lives in 2013 in what proved to be the worst year nationwide for suicide attempts in 25 years. Experts claim that the economic crisis has been the decisive factor in the rash of suicide attempts.

“Thousands of people are terrified about the future, that they will lose their job, that they’ll end up on the street, losing their family and everything they’ve earnt in life.” sociologist Boguslaw Prajsner told the Rzeczpospolita daily. According to police records, as many as 8579 people across Poland attempted to take their lives in 2013, over 2800 more than in 2012. After Silesia, the second largest number of suicide attempts was in the Malopolska region, also in southern Poland (752), followed by the central Swietokrzyskie region (727).

“The reasons for the suicides are definitely economic – industrial plants are being closed, there’s a lack of work,” affirmed Dariusz Luczak, a councellor from the Swietokrzyskie region. Over 80 percent of those that tried to take their own lives were men, with one in five of all suicide attempts carried out by those in the 50-59 age bracket