The New Zealand Institute
| Grade | NZ Rank | Trend | Latest Value | 2015 Target | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C | 20th of 33 | Equal | 11.2 per 100,000 | 9.0 | Suicide rate average but youth rate very high |
Suicide is an indicator of individuals unable to overcome a challenge or crisis, of unaddressed mental disorders and of lack of social cohesion. People may commit suicide because they do not have the skills and resilience to resolve or overcome issues and then, when they encounter issues, there are insufficient protective factors.
Recognised risk factors for suicide are a family history of suicide, low socio-economic status, childhood abuse or adversity, and specific personality characteristics including high levels of neuroticism, hopelessness, impulsivity, risk-taking and low self-esteem. These background factors mean that when presented with a stress, often a conflict or loss, or unemployment, an individual may consider suicide. Yet there are many people with these backgrounds who successfully navigate such stresses, and that is attributed to protective factors which lead the individual away from suicide.
Protective factors include an adaptable temperament, good self-esteem, problem-solving skills, social support and networks including a close relationship with at least one family member, and spiritual faith (Beautrais, Collings, Ehrhardt et al., 2005, p.40). Research on the degree of resilience provided by these factors is not comprehensive, and has been focused on youth in New Zealand to date, but advocates point out many of these factors also deliver other benefits. Overall, suicide rates indicate the degree of undiagnosed, untreated depression in the community.
As Figure 1 shows, New Zealand’s overall suicide rate is near the OECD average and has been for several decades.
Figure 2 shows the overall suicide rate has declined from a peak of 15.1 per 100,000 in 1995 to 11.2 per 100,000 in 2008. However the downward trend has levelled off.
In the late 1990s New Zealand had one of the worst suicide rates in the world for youth aged 15-24 so several targeted programmes were established. Figure 2 shows the youth suicide rate has declined a lot but Figure 3 shows New Zealand’s 15-19 year old suicide rate remains the highest among the OECD countries. New Zealand has the highest female youth (15-24) suicide rate of any other OECD country and the third highest rate behind Iceland and Finland for males aged 15-24 (Mental Health Commission, 2011, p.15).
Figure 4 shows that in the July 2010 to June 2011 year there were many more male than female suicides. For every one female suicide there were three male suicides. The peak age group for male suicides was 20-24 years with 32 suicide deaths per 100,000 (53 deaths). The peak age groups for female suicides was 50-54 years with 11 deaths per 100,000 (17 deaths), followed closely by females aged 15-24 years 10 deaths per 100,000.
In 2010-11 Māori continued to have the highest rate of suicide (18 deaths per 100,000) compared to Pacific (8), Asian (4) and Other (14).
When youth suicide rates in New Zealand were recognised as relatively high in the 1990s, policies and programmes were initiated under a two part national strategy. In Our Hands: New Zealand Youth Suicide Prevention Strategy (Ministry of Health, 1998) was the mainstream population strategy and Kia Piki te Ora o te Taitamariki focused on specific Māori needs and approaches for youth aged 15-24 years.
The programmes and policies to reduce suicide rates do not only address suicide prevention but also contribute to promoting mental health and general wellbeing. Multi-sector programmes focused on alcohol and drug services, relationship services education, violence, aged care, migrant support, unemployment, offending and community development are expected to contribute to reducing suicide rates.
After an evaluation, the two national strategies were superseded by an all-age New Zealand Suicide Prevention Strategy 2006-2016 and a New Zealand Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2008-2012. Despite these efforts, Figure 2 shows suicides have stayed relatively stable over recent years and Figure 4 shows that in 2010-11 youth suicides (15-24 years) represent a large proportion (22%) of all suicides in New Zealand.
The first year review of the New Zealand Suicide Prevention Action Plan 2008-2012 identified about 70% of the actions in the plan were underway. Progress was being made on all high priority areas but some areas required further attention such as targeted initiatives for high risk groups, developing guidance materials for media coverage of suicide issues, and further focus on management of suicide risk through primary care services. The Plan, and the evidence that underpins it, will be updated over 2011-12.
A paper on Māori Suicide Prevention was prepared for the Ministerial Committee on Suicide Prevention (March 2010) identifying that Māori have the highest suicide rate of all the ethnicities in New Zealand with no significant declining trend evident. The implementation of Te Whakauruora, the Māori suicide prevention resource, launched on World Suicide Prevention Day (10 September) 2009 provides community guidance and has been reinforced via a training programme for Kia Piki te Ora providers to strengthen their capability to deliver effective interventions.
In August 2010 the Chief Coroner called for further discussion of suicide as a means to improve recognition of and intervention prior to suicide. In response, a March 2011 meeting of media, mental health professionals and researchers took the first steps toward developing consistent guidelines for media when reporting on suicides with the aim for a resource to be in place by late 2011.
In August 2011 the Chief Coroner identified the country’s suicide rate was “staying stubbornly the same” at levels well above the road toll, current suicide prevention techniques are not working and a new approach is needed. The Government has committed to a full review of policies to reduce suicide.
New Zealand’s overall suicide rate is average among OECD countries.
While the country has established strategies and programmes to prevent suicides and support high risk groups, the suicide rate has not declined so the grade remains a C.
The target for 2015 is 9.0 suicides per 100,000 persons. Achieving the target would place New Zealand 11th in the OECD assuming current rates persist in other countries. Reaching an overall rate of 9.0 requires ongoing progress with programmes targeting higher risk groups as well as across-the-board improvement.
The number of suicide deaths refers to the actual number of people who have died by suicide.
The suicide rate refers to the frequency with which these events occur relative to the number of people in a defined population and a defined period. Suicide is relatively rare, so rates can vary a great deal from one year to the next because of the small numbers.
Figures 1 to 3 show the age-standardised suicide death rates per 100,000 persons.
An age-standardised rate is a rate that has been adjusted to take account of differences in the age distribution of the population over time or between different groups (for example, different ethnic groups). This is required when the action measured is more or less likely at certain ages. A population with more people in the age group that takes that action more often may appear to have a higher rate than a population with fewer people in that age group, so age-specific rates are weighted to apply to a standardised population and enable comparison.
International comparisons of suicides may be affected by different methods used to classify suicide and cultural bias may influence the likelihood of classifying a death as suicide. The New Zealand age-standardised rate in the international comparison data prepared by the Ministry of Health has been calculated in a manner consistent with the international figures available but may differ slightly from rates presented elsewhere.
Figure 1: OECD (2011). Health: Key tables from OECD, Suicides, retrieved 28 July 2011 from http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org.
New Zealand data is from Ministry of Health (2010, December). Suicide Facts: Deaths and intentional self-harm hospitalisations 2008, retrieved 17 March 2011. Data is sourced from the NZ Mortality Collection and is shown in Table 1 ‘suicide-facts-2008-deaths-dec2010.xls’, from http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/suicide-facts-2008.
The year of data collection varies by country. 2004 - Canada; 2005 - Belgium; 2006 - Australia, Denmark, Germany; 2007 - Chile, Italy, Switzerland, USA; 2008 - France, Israel, Luxembourg, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden; 2009 - Austria, Czech Rep., Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovak Rep., Slovenia, UK. No data was available for Turkey. OECD average is an unweighted average of country data.
Figure 2: Ministry of Health (2010, December). Suicide Facts: Deaths and intentional self-harm hospitalisations 2008, retrieved 17 March 2011. Data sourced from the NZ Mortality Collection is shown in Table 1 and Table 4 in ‘suicide-facts-2008-deaths-dec2010.xls’ from http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/suicide-facts-2008.
Figure 3: OECD (2008). Social and Welfare Statistics, Child Well-Being, retrieved 10 March 2011 from http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=CWB.
New Zealand data is from Ministry of Health (2008). Suicide Facts: Deaths and intentional self-harm hospitalisations, retrieved 17 March 2011. Data sourced from the NZ Mortality Collection is shown in Table 3 in ‘suicide-facts-2008-deaths-dec2010.xls’ from http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/suicide-facts-2008.
No data was available for Turkey. No data was supplied for the recently joined OECD countries of Chile, Estonia, Israel and Slovenia. OECD average is an unweighted average of country data.
Figure 4: Chief Coroner, Judge Neil MacLean (2011, August 26) Provisional National Suicide Statistics, drawn from Ministry of Justice database, retrieved 8 September 2011 from http://www.spinz.org.nz/file/News/Word-docs/coronial-media-handout-26-aug-2011.doc.
Further information links for suicide
Beautrais, A.L., Collings SCD, Ehrhardt, P., et al. (2005, May). Suicide Prevention: A review of evidence of risk and protective factors, and points of effective intervention. Wellington: Ministry of Health, available at http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/pagesmh/4086.
Ministry of Health, Suicide Prevention in New Zealand at http://www.moh.govt.nz/suicideprevention.
Ministry of Social Development (2011) The Social Report 2010, suicide indicator available at http://www.socialreport.msd.govt.nz/health/suicide.html.
Mental Health Commission (2011, May). National Indicators 2011: Measuring mental health and addiction in New Zealand, released 17 August 2011 and available at http://www.mhc.govt.nz/publications/national-indicators-2011-measuring-mental-health-and-addiction-new-zealand.
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