Suicide remained the second-leading cause of death among young Taiwanese men and women aged 15 to 24 last year, with 60 percent of the cases related to relationship problems, a government official reported earlier this week.
Lee Ming-pin (李明濱), director of the Department of Health’s (DOH) Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center, said 4,092 people in the age bracket attempted suicide last year and 201 of them died.
Traffic accidents were the No. 1 cause of death for young Taiwanese people last year, while malignant tumors were the third-leading killer.
The figure of 201 suicide deaths was 14 percent lower than the 2007 number. Those who failed to kill themselves form the group with the highest possibility of attempting suicide again, he said.
Lee would not speculate, however, on whether the growing number of suicide attempts was linked to the global economic downturn, saying further analysis was needed.
The number of reported suicide cases involving Taiwan’s young men and women has increased steadily over the past four years, an expert said.
Based on the cases of youth suicides reported to authorities since 2006, Lee said 60 percent were driven by relationship problems, while, to the surprise of many, academic pressure accounted for less than 3 percent of the total.
About 25 percent of the young people sought to end their lives by taking sleeping pills or sedatives, followed by 21 percent who tried to slit their wrists. Self-poisoning as well as gas or burning charcoal resulted in the highest mortality rate of any method at 35.3 percent, he said.
Lee called on parents and teachers to pay adequate attention to the youth suicide problem by patiently listening to the voices of suicidal youngsters instead of labeling them as “fragile strawberries.”
The DOH reported earlier in the month that Taiwan’s suicide mortality rate had increased by 3.3 percent last year from the previous year — a trend some believed could be linked to financial problems caused by the sagging economy.
Among all age groups, suicide was the ninth leading cause of death in Taiwan last year, up one notch from 2007, a DOH report showed.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
Chinese spouse and influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China videos that threaten national security, the National Immigration Agency confirmed today. Guan Guan has said many controversial statements in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” and expressing hope for expedited reunification. The agency last year received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification. After verifying the reports, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and explain her actions. Guan
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) said a magnitude 4.9 earthquake that struck off the coast of eastern Taiwan yesterday was an independent event and part of a stress-adjustment process. The earthquake occurred at 4:47pm, with its epicenter at sea about 45.4km south of Yilan County Hall at a depth of 5.9km, the CWA said. The quake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in several townships in Yilan and neighboring Hualien County, where it measured 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the CWA said. Lin Po-yu (林柏佑), a division chief at the CWA's Seismological Center, told a news conference
RSS