Suicide among older people: projections for the future.

Guided by recent demographic analyses of birth cohort effects, the authors demonstrate the relationship between cohort size and longitudinal suicide rates, with reference to four particular cohorts which have entered adulthood at various periods throughout the present century. Combining this perspective with a look at projected population increases among older age groups, estimates are made of the scope of the problem of suicide among older people which is likely to be encountered during the early decades of the next century.