Cancer still leading killer, suicide rate rises sharply

Cancer remained the top killer in Taiwan last year, with an average of 86 citizens dying from the disease each day, the Ministry of the Interior reported yesterday.

If deaths due to cancer were excluded, the average lifespan of Taiwan citizens would be 3.31 years longer, officials from the ministry's Statistics Department said.

The figures showed that cancer deaths reduced the average lifespan of Taiwanese men from 76.45 years to 72.67 years and reduced the average lifespan of Taiwan's women from 81.21 years to 78.44 years.

The top ten killers in Taiwan last year were cancer, strokes, heart disease, accidents, diabetes, chronic liver disease, kidney disease, pneumonia, suicide and lung disease.

The number of deaths due to cancer, strokes, diabetes, kidney disease and suicide each rose last year from the year before, while the number of deaths caused by accidents, heart disease and pneumonia declined, the officials said.

Last year was the third straight year that suicide was among the top 10.

The ministry statistics showed that those between the ages of 15 and 44 are most likely to commit suicide.

The ministry said the high suicide rate last year might be related to the economic recession.

Last year, 2,471 people in Taiwan committed suicide, or an average of seven people every day, up 8.33 percent from 1999.