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Ethnicity and Elderly Suicide in Singapore

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2005

Soo Meng Ko  and
Ee Heok Kua
Soo Meng Ko
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Ee Heok Kua
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
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Abstract

In the cosmopolitan city of Singapore the annual suicide rates in the general population from 1985 to 1991 remained fairly constant, with a mean of 15.3 per 100,000. It was highest among Indians (19.5 per 100,000), followed by Chinese (16.2 per 100,000) and Malays (2.3 per 100,000). The suicide rates were higher in elderly people (aged 65 years and over) than in younger age groups (10 to 64 years) and in males than in females. For the elderly, the mean annual suicide rate for this period was 52.0 per 100,000. However, it was highest among Chinese, with 59.3 per 100,000, followed by Indians at 33.9 per 100,000, and, again, lowest among Malays, with 3.0 per 100,000. Possible sociocultural factors are proposed to account for differences in suicide rates among these ethnic groups.

Type
International Perspectives
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 309 - 317
Copyright
© 1995 Springer Publishing Company

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