The number of youth suicides reported last year rose by more than 20 per cent compared with figures recorded in the previous year, according to the 2008 Coroner's Report.
A total of 157 people aged below 30 committed suicide last year, compared to 129 in 2007 - an increase of 22 per cent.
The Samaritans pointed out that suicides had accounted for nearly 10 times more deaths in the past five years than those caused by traffic accidents.
Some 962 people committed suicide last year, while 111 were killed in traffic accidents, according to the Coroner's Report. A similar trend was also observed in 2007, with 855 suicides compared to 106 deaths in car accidents.
'These are alarming figures. Losing a life in a car accident is already terrible news ... but the number of deaths caused by suicide is almost 10 times greater,' Serena Wong Sze-sze, publicity and fund-raising manager for The Samaritans, said.
'But it is difficult to point to just one or two factors causing the increase in youth suicides. There are many reasons behind each suicide. We are more concerned about how to prevent such tragedies from happening.'
