LIFE IS WORTH LIVING

A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM

"Suicide is a serious public health problem." David Satcher, U.S. surgeon general, in 1999.

THAT statement marked the first time in history that  a surgeon general of the United States had made suicide a public issue.   More people in that country are now killing themselves than are being killed by others. Little wonder that the U.S. Senate declared suicide prevention to a national priority.

Yet, the suicide rate in the United States, which was 11.4 per 100,000 in 1997, is below the global rate published by the World Health Organization in 2000-16 per 100,000.  The suicide rates worldwide have increased  60  percent in the last 45 years. Now, in a single year, about a million people worldwide take their own lives. That amounts to approximately one death every 40 seconds!

Statistics, however, cannot tell the whole story. In many cases family members deny that a death was suicide. Moreover, it is estimated that for every completed suicide, between 10 and 25 are attempted.  One survey found that 27 percent of high school  students in the United States admitted that during the previous year, they had seriously considered suicide; 8 percent of the group surveyed said that they had made suicide attempts.  Other studies have found that from 5 to 15 percent of the adult population have had suicidal thoughts at one one time or another.  

Next time: LIFE IS WORTH LIVING/A WORLDWIDE PROBLEM

From the Awake! magazine