MORE than half of North-East men aged 18 to 45 have considered suicide, research by male suicide charity CALM has revealed.

The charity commissioned a YouGov poll which showed that 52 per cent of North-East men under 45 have considered suicide compared to 42 per cent nationally.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS)'s most up-to-date figures on suicide are for 2013 which showed that the North-East had the highest suicide rate in the UK with 13.8 deaths per 100,000 population compared to London with just 7.9 deaths per 100,000 people.

CALM, which stands for Campaign Against Living Miserably, have also published figures showing that last year, there were 4,623 male suicides in the UK, accounting for 76 per cent of all suicides.

Male suicide continues to be the biggest single killer of men under 45 in the UK.

The North-East statistics show that while 52 per cent of males contemplated taking their own lives, and only 51 per cent spoke to somebody about their feelings.

The charity has launched a campaign called BiggerIssues to try to encourage younger men to talk about their feelings. The poll showed that the reasons for not talking about suicidal thoughts included not wanting people to worry about them (32 per cent) and not wanting to cause a fuss (24 per cent).

The ONS statistics for 2013 showed there were 229 male suicides and 66 female suicides in the North-East, representing 13.8 deaths per 100,000 population. In Yorkshire there were 407 male suicides and and 95 female suicides, or 11.6 per cent per 100,000 population.

Jane Powell, chief executive officers of CALM, said: “Male suicide is tragically the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 in the UK, and 12 men take their own lives every day – a fact few people are even aware of, let alone talking about."

CALM's campaign is being sponsored by Lynx, a company which sells anti-perspirant products.