Jumping makes up only 3 % of suicides in the US and Europe - a much smaller percentage than is generally perceived by the public . Jumping is surprisingly infrequent because tall buildings are often condo or office buildings not accessible to the general public , and because open air areas of high buildings ( ie rooftop restaurants or pools ) often are surrounded by high walls that are built precisely to prevent suicides . Jumping makes up 20 % of suicides in New York City and more than half of suicides in Hong Kong , due to the prevalence of publicly accessible skyscrapers in the cities . The term was brought to prominence in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks , in which approximately 200 people at the point of impact or trapped above the point of impact in the North and South towers of the World Trade Center jumped to escape the fire and the smoke caused by the direct impact of Flights 11 and 175 . Many of these jumpers were inadvertently captured on both television and amateur footage , even though television networks reporting on the tragedy attempted to avoid showing the jumpers falling to avoid upsetting viewers
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Jumper (person)