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Friday, April 15, 2016

Youth suicide rates lower in Japan than in Canada, Australia



Data is from the OECD.

It should also be apparent by now that, as far as America goes, the suicide rate for non-Hispanic whites is higher than the national average. Moreover it has increased since 1999 according to CDC WONDER:

Year
Results are sorted in by-variable order
Move this column one place to the rightDeathsClick to sort by Deaths ascendingClick to sort by Deaths descending
Move this column one place to the rightMove this column one place to the leftPopulationClick to sort by Population ascendingClick to sort by Population descending
Move this column one place to the leftCrude Rate Per 100,000Click to sort by Crude Rate Per 100,000 ascendingClick to sort by Crude Rate Per 100,000 descending
19992,83024,695,11011.5
20002,86824,811,45511.6
20012,92625,297,12311.6
20022,95125,542,64611.6
20032,83225,707,89111.0
20043,04525,882,37311.8
20052,99225,979,53411.5
20062,94425,972,82311.3
20072,93225,894,62311.3
20083,02525,750,99611.7
20093,04625,563,15511.9
20103,19025,356,57412.6
20113,41325,234,54313.5
20123,34725,143,72013.3
20133,38824,988,24413.6
20143,49524,782,67514.1

The data for this sloppily pasted table shows mortality rates for suicides only, for non-Hispanic whites aged 15-24. For all races the rate was 11.5 in 2014, with no clear trend for the 1999-2014 time period (not posting that table here). In any case, the youth suicide rate for non-Hispanic white Americans is no doubt higher than for Japanese youths, and the trend is up for both groups.

For the country as a whole, Japan does have a higher suicide rate than most other developed countries, but this is no doubt skewed higher by the age composition of the country; Japan has the largest share of elderly people as a percentage of the total population of any other country. And older people commit more suicide than the younger people.

Anyway, when the PISA 2015 results are released in December this year, expect more praise for the Finnish education system and cautioning against the education system in Japan based on its "high suicide rates". Never mind that Finland has a higher youth suicide rate than Japan, which should be a more relevant comparison than comparing suicide rates for people aged 45+ when discussing education systems.