Three million American teens have thought seriously about or even attempted suicide, a government survey released on Sunday showed.

More than 13% of young Americans between 14 and 17 years of age considered suicide in 2000, according to the report from the US Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Only 36% of them had received mental health treatment or counseling, SAMHSA noted².

Depression is the main cause of suicide, SAMHSA administrator³ Charles Curie explained in a statement.

"We need to help teens make the link between untreated depression and the risk for suicide, and help them identify serious depression or suicide risk in a friend," Curie said. "We must encourage teens to tell a responsible adult when a friend is at risk for suicide."

More than one third of the 3 million teens aged⁴ 12 to 17 who said they thought about suicide in the past 12 months actually tried it, the survey done by SAMHSA found.

Girls were twice as likely as boys to say they thought about suicide, but race and areas did not seem to make a difference, the report indicates. The highest rate was noted in the western part of the country, where 13.5% of children aged 12 to 17 reported having had thoughts of suicide.