Did you know that an average of 60 people took away their own life in Malaysia each month

The things that I am not aware of keeps piling up everyday, for instance I only found out  today that Malaysia averages two suicides per day and that the average about equal that of the United States. This is one comparison that we should not take lightly.


60 suicides per month is a very sad figure to comprehend, the loss of one life itself is a source of immeasurable grief and despair to the family concerned.

Don: Suicide figures may be higher

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia averaged two reported cases of suicide each day last year.

The actual figure could be much higher, said Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre Professor of Psychiatry Dr T. Maniam.

Based on the National Suicide Registry Malaysia (NSRM) figure between January and August last year, a total of 425 people committed suicide, averaging 60 per month.

“Our country’s suicide rate from 1990 to 2000 is estimated at 10 to 13 per 100,000 population based on the statistics, including those labelled as undetermined deaths,” Dr Maniam said, adding that the figure was still applicable today.

Dr Maniam, who is also the Malaysian National Representative on the Council of National Representatives of the International Association for Suicide Prevention, said Malaysia’s suicide rate stood at “mid-level, globally speaking.”

“We are at about the same rate as the United States,” he said.

Dr Maniam said he had not calculated the rate in recent years as accurate data was unavailable due to misclassification of most suicides as “undetermined deaths.”

He said figures provided by the registry might not reflect the true suicide rate, and even developed countries faced this problem with about 30% of suicide cases being classified wrongly.

He said some cases were probably classified as undetermined deaths because the deceased’s family did not want to deal with the stigma surrounding suicide victims.

He added that many families were reluctant to report suicide incidents because their religion forbade it, and under Malaysian law it was a crime even to attempt suicide.

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