Suicide is a prominent public health problem in Australia, with
more than 41,000 Australians committing suicide between 1979 and
1998, according to a report released today by the Australian
Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
Suicides and Hospitalised Self-Harm in Australia has
been produced by the AIHW National Injury Surveillance Unit at the
Research Centre for Injury Studies, Flinders University of South
Australia.
According to report co-author Dr James Harrison, 'Suicide has
become more prominent as a cause of death partly because its
incidence has been rising slightly while other external causes of
death, such as motor vehicle crashes, have fallen in recent
years'.
There were 2,683 suicides registered in Australia in 1998.
Summary data for 1999 released by the Australian Bureau of
Statistics after completion of the AIHW report show a 7% fall in
suicide deaths registered. While welcoming this result, Dr Harrison
said it was too early yet to say whether this signified a change in
the overall trend.
Overall, the male suicide rate has increased slightly in recent
years, mainly because of a rise in rates for the 20-39 age group.
Since the 1990s rates for this age group have been the highest of
all male age groups.
Female suicide rates have remained more stable over recent
years.
Rates for men aged 40-59 years have remained stable, while
suicide rates for men over 60 years of age have fallen. Teenage
male suicide rates have stabilised following a rapid rise in the
1980s.
'For men, the period when you were born seems to make a
difference to chances of suicide at particular ages', Dr Harrison
said.
'We have data covering people born in the early 1930s up to the
early 1980s. In general, no matter when you were born, there are
low suicide rates in childhood up to about 14 years of age, after
which rates rise with increasing maturity before levelling off.
'What is disturbing is that it seems that the later you were
born, the more likely you are to commit suicide, and the more
likely you are to commit suicide earlier in life.
'Reasons for this are not clear, but social factors are likely
to be involved. Improvement in the reporting or recording of
suicide is not likely to be a sufficient explanation.'
Suicide rates and trends have been generally similar across all
States and Territories. Victoria had the lowest suicide rates for
men while the highest rates were in the Northern Territory. For
women, the lowest rate was in the ACT, and the highest in
Queensland. The differences compared to the national average were
small, however.
While male suicides in Australia outnumber female suicides by 4
to 1, women tend to outnumber men (4 to 3) for hospital admissions
for attempted suicide and self-harm. Poisoning was by far the most
common method of self-harm (70% for men, 85% for women).
19 April 2001
Further information:
Dr James Harrison, NISU, 08 8374 0970
Media copies of the report: Publications Officer,
tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability.