DHARAMSHALA, September 11: A person attempts suicide in China every two minutes, giving the world’s second largest economy one of the highest suicide rates in the world.
In a survey released by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two million Chinese attempt suicide every year constituting 3.6 per cent of the total deaths annually.
Seventy-five per cent of the suicides were reportedly committed in rural areas and the number of suicides by women is 25 per cent higher than males, which is contrary to the trend seen in developed countries where the suicide rate among males is three times more, CDC said.
The official report ranked suicide as the fifth leading cause of death and a primary reason for death of people aged between 15 to 34 years in China.
Extreme pressure to perform well at school and to find employment were the main reasons behind the high rate of suicide among China’s youths, Chinese media reported.
In the past 50 years of economic boom that China has witnessed, the suicide rate saw a sharp rise of 60 per cent, the survey said.
CDC released its report ahead of the World Suicide Prevention Day on September 9.
