SINGAPORE: Sometimes, statistics can be confusing.
When Seasia Stats, a website that claims to publish “good news” from Southeast Asia, re-shared an infographic about suicide rates in the region on Sunday (Nov 24), Singapore was at the top of the list.
The heading of the infographic reads that the numbers are from 2024. However, the figure of 11.2 per 100,000 people in Singapore is based on data from the World Health Organization in 2019.
According to the World Population Review, by 2020, the number in Singapore had gone down to 8.15, and by 2021, it had decreased even further to 7.75 per 100,000 people.
Furthermore, the suicide prevention centre Samaritans of Singapore (SOS) said in July of this year that in 2023, Singapore saw the lowest number of suicides in more than 20 years.
From 476 in 2022, the number went down in 2023 to 322. SOS noted that the decrease in number was seen across all age groups.
The group nevertheless expressed concern, especially for young people between the ages of 10 and 29, for whom suicide remains the leading cause of death.
“The data shows an overall decrease and is deeply encouraging, a trend we hope will continue.
We must, however, not be complacent in our efforts to support individuals in distress as we continue to see more individuals reaching out for support.
Comparing 2020 to 2021, our crisis hotline has seen a 127% increase in calls from youths aged 10 to 19, expressing a strong cry for help that cannot be ignored,” said Gasper Tan, the Chief Executive of SOS, in 2022.
Happiest country in Southeast Asia but has the highest suicide rates?
A commenter on Seasia Stat’s Nov 24 Instagram post was also puzzled by the post, asking how Singapore is the happiest country in Southeast Asia but has the highest suicide rate at the same time.
“How to balance the sheets?” the commenter asked.
Read related: Singapore is the happiest country in Asia for the second year in a row
This is in reference to another infographic posted by Seasia Stats in March. It quoted the 2024 World Happiness Report from the Wellbeing Research Center at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom.
The report said that from 2022 to 2023, Singapore had an overall score of 6.532 when it came to life satisfaction evaluations, ranking 30th among 143 countries across the globe and scoring the highest in the region.
Singapore’s results show a variance across generations. Among those aged below 30, Singapore ranked 54th on the list, while among those aged 60 and above, the country ranked 26th. /TISG
The featured image above is from Depositphotos.