The number of women killing themselves in the UK has hit its highest level in a decade, while the male suicide rate has fallen, according to new official statistics.

It is the second consecutive year that the rate of women killing themselves has reached a decade-long high, causing the head of Samartians to say it “could be an emerging trend”.

Yet despite the decline in male suicides from 16.8 per 100,000 people in 2014 to 16.6 in 2015, the rate of men killing themselves was three times that of women. According to data from the office of national statistics 1,566 women killed themselves in 2015 — a rate of 5.4 suicides per 100,000 people and an increase from 5.2 the year before and 4.8 in 2013.

The rise in female suicide drove the overall number of suicides to rise slightly from 6,122 in 2014 to 6,188 in 2015. Those women most at risk of killing themselves, as with men, were middle-aged. Women aged between 45 and 59 had the highest suicide rate for the 13th year running at 7.6 per 100,000 people in 2015, a level significantly higher than other age groups.

Samaritans CEO Ruth Sutherland told The Independent it appeared to be the beginning of an "emerging trend" that could be to do with an ever increasing "sandwich" of pressures on women. "The role of women in society is changing, particularly for middle aged women," she said

"Women [are now] caring for children, caring for elderly relatives, they have high pressure at work, relationship strain and money pressures."

She added in a statement: “Suicide is quite possibly the biggest public health issue of our time because of the impact it has on families, workplaces and entire communities.

“Every death is an absolute tragedy leaving devastation in its wake. These figures emphasise the urgency with which we as a society need to work together to prevent needless loss of life.

“We are alarmed by the increase in the number of women taking their own lives and will look carefully at why this might be.

“Suicide is not inevitable, it’s preventable and politicians, employers, health bodies and educators all have a role in identifying and supporting those most at risk.