Suicide in Hong Kong

Hong Kong has a relatively low suicide situation comparing to other countries. In 2017 the suicide rate in Hong Kong was around 12 death per 100,000 people, ranked 32 in the world countries, which is the lowest rate for 4 years. Death from suicide in Hong Kong for a male is double suicide for female. In 2017, the suicide rate for male was 16.2 deaths per 100,000 people, while for female it was 8.8 deaths per 100,000 people. Suicide in Hong Kong has a strange situation, although the suicide rate has a slight decrease compared to the previous years, however, the suicides of 19 or younger have risen by 50%. The Samaritans Hong Kong has described this issues as a worthy of attention situation.

Factors in suicide include the Hong Kong education system and family pressures. The Hok Yau Club (It is a Hong Kong public charity and a member of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service. It mainly serves young students, provides counseling services to students, and organizes various extracurricular activities) deputy director-general Wu Baocheng believes that the current social values are the main source of student pressure. "This competition starts from kindergartens, the first things students learn in school was to score full marks in all task, instead of building up their own personality." He also mentioned that the successful reason for Hong Kong education system is because of the competitive learning environment.

Flag of Hong Kong

The suicide rate among students was relatively high compared to the world. According to the research from City university, almost one-third of teenagers (age 10-14) in Hong Kong has been identified as a potential suicide risk.

Hong Kong

Statistics

Age

The suicide rates by age group in Hong Kong are normally a similar percentage from 2012 to 2016, also similar to the suicide rates by age group in the world. The teenager suicide has an increasing situation, from 52 people (2014) to 75 people (2015), there are 6 cases in which there are suicide notes indicating that the cause of death is related to academics. The remaining causes of death include emotional problems, family problems, unsatisfactory life (peer pressure of peers and disputes with relatives and friends, etc.), health problems, and some reasons for the death are unknown. Roughly estimate, every 9.3 days a teenager (under the age of 24) will end his life.

Number of Suicides by Age Group in Hong Kong (2012-2016)

Age	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Less than 15	3	3	6	2	7
15-24	73	66	52	68	75
25-34	137	143	110	109	126
35-44	156	142	161	158	126
45-54	163	172	169	155	143
55-64	132	171	149	169	154
65 and above	251	241	266	263	283

Gender

Since 2000, men have a suicide rate that is roughly twice as high as women. According to a study, because men have more responsibility and pressure to suffer in Hong Kong’s society than female (the working culture in Hong Kong), therefore the suicide rate by gender is male roughly two times higher than female. On the other hand, there are some studies and research proves that female treat commits suicide as a protest or declaration of sovereignty, while male commit suicide usually is with a firm will.

Number of Suicides by Gender in Hong Kong (2000-2016)

Gender	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Male	546	647	741	831	665	614	576	587	577	616	605	535	566	584	567	588	595
Female	356	382	369	433	388	382	359	322	400	367	364	332	351	355	347	336	324
Overall	902	1029	1110	1264	1053	996	935	909	977	983	969	867	917	939	914	924	919

Compare to the world’s suicide rate by gender, the percentage is similar as other countries, especially compared with other Asia’s countries, which is because of the working environment and social cultures are similar with Hong Kong.

Method

There are four common suicide method in Hong Kong, Jumping, Poisoning, Hanging, and charcoal burning, which are those common and easy to access way to suicide in a large city like Hong Kong. The method of suicide percentage is similar from 2000 to 2016, and jumping is most likely to occupy 50% of the suicide method. The reason of jumping is most common suicide method is Hong Kong got a lot of high building, people are most likely living in an apartment instead of a house, therefore jumping is easy to access and no any cost. Also, Hong Kong law heavily restricts firearms possession, the normal citizen has no way to access a gun, therefore jumping will be the favored way to suicide with no pain and no cost.

Method used in Completed Suicide in Hong Kong (2000-2016)

Method	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016
Others	5.9	5.6	5	4.9	4.4	4.2	5.3	4.4	5.2	8.4	5.4	5.5	7.2	5.1	7.9	5.2	7.5
Poisoning	5.4	3.7	3.9	4	2.9	3	3.2	3.4	4.2	1	3.1	3.3	4.4	2.7	2.7	4.1	3.5
Charcoal Burning	19.5	24.9	25.1	25.4	21.7	21.4	17.6	15.7	17.1	18.2	14.1	14.5	13.2	15.4	14.7	14	11.8
Hanging	25.7	21.4	23.1	19.5	20.9	21.6	21.7	22.7	21.4	20.7	21.9	22.4	24.6	25.6	23.2	23.7	22.4
Jumping	43.5	44.5	43	46.2	50.1	49.8	52.1	53.8	52.1	51.7	55.5	54.2	50.6	51.2	51.5	53	54.8

Campus Suicide in Hong Kong

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

At present, the education system in Hong Kong includes three stages: pre-primary education, 15 years of free education (pre-primary education, primary and secondary schools) and tertiary education. In the first stage, pre-school education is non-compulsory participation in education, while free education Primary One to Secondary Three is mandatory for all students who meet the age of admission. Since the start of the new school year in September 2015 (September 1), nearly 140 students have been born in March 2019. Since March 2016, the death toll has started to climb. Statistics show that in 2017, the number of suicides among young people under the age of 19 was 36, 50% more than 24 in 2016. Paul Yip, founding director of the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at Hong Kong University, discussing the education environment and the traditional Asian family expectation to their kids are the major factor to the student's suicide.

Tide of Student Suicide in 2016

The "Tide of Student Suicide" began in the 2015/16 school year. Student suicide cases are more frequent than before and have drawn attention from all media, this situation was even more serious in March 2016. In the first 9 days of March, there were 7 cases and 3 of them were from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. As of the beginning of the school year in September 2015, the number of suicides and attempted suicides were as high as 20 cases.

On March 21, 2016, the Legislative Council Education Affairs Committee held a special meeting on student suicide. The Secretary for Education, Mr. Eddie Ng Hak-Kim said that in consideration of the urgency of the incident, he decided to allocate $5 million to the special services and provide a $5,000 "Special Allowance for the "Family and School Co-operation Scheme" to all primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong. The Parent-Teacher Association organized "Parent-teacher and Parent-child" activities to support students' mental health growth activities.

In addition, some government members criticized the existing education system for problems and asked Mr.Ng to review the education policy and reduce the pressure on school children. Michael Tien, from The New People's Party, said, "Students nowadays have to stay in school for 10 hours. Students got to do 7 to 10 homework on average, and 23 homework assignments have been issued during the holidays." Mr.Ng responded that he had reflected the problem to the school and thought that the amount of homework was too much. Mr.Ng claimed, "If there were 23 (homework), please take (evidence) out."

Notable teacher suicide cases

In 2019 March, A 48-year-old female teacher jumped from the sixth-floor corridor of the primary school in the morning at 7:30 am, which a lot of primary students just went back to school at this time and shocked. Her younger brother said that she was suspected of being affected by work pressure before her death and that the principal had many unreasonable demands, she was not able to take sick leave and no time to visit the clinic. Moreover, the principal did not propose a suicide treatment plan or condolences for the teacher’s family. At last, the principal was sent to the mental hospital as she could not withstand the pressure of public opinion. McCarthy discovers that the education system in Hong Kong carries a high pressure on students, also to the teachers.

Government Response

Hong Kong Emblem

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government provided five major measures to help students in September 2016. The five major measures are as follows: Firstly, Set up a task force to comprehensively understand the causes of suicide analysis and propose prevention methods. Secondly, hold five regional seminars to arrange educational psychologists and student counselling professionals to introduce methods for preventing suicide and discriminating students with problems; Thirdly, Organizing teacher lectures to teach methods and related support for identifying problematic students; Fourthly. Establishing a dedicated team within the bureau to invite educational psychologists and counselors to provide support to schools with special needs; Finally, Schools, parents With the students as the object, make a small knowledge kit.

The Education Bureau has allocated additional resources to support schools to provide quality education funds of up to HK$200,000. Organize the "Good Mood @ School" program to promote mental health and raise students' awareness and awareness of mental health in schools. Increase more resources in order to implement other work.

The Secretary for Education, Mr. Eddie Ng Hak-Kim, cited the report of the Suicide Prevention Committee on October 14, 2016, saying that the suicide of college students stemmed from the lack of career planning, and students nowadays are not able to handle their pressure and give up their life easily.

Helplines

The Samaritans Hong Kong

The Samaritan Hong Kong is a non-profit and non-religious group which providing confidential emotional support to people who are suicidal or are in general distress. This services available for everyone regardless of age, creed, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The Samaritans is providing 24-hour multilingual hotline service which is operated by unpaid and trained volunteers. Since 1974, they have received more than 570,000 phone calls from callers ranging in age from 8 to 80.

The purpose of the Samaritan Society is to provide emotional support to those who are desperate or suicidal. Samaritan believe that everyone has the right to control their own destiny – including ending their lives. Samaritan will not suggest what you should do also will not evaluate who you are. Providing emotional support for whoever unconditionally.

History of The Samaritan Hong Kong

The Hong Kong Samaritan Suicide Prevention Society was established in July 1960. The founder 杜學魁, formerly known as The Suicide Prevention Society, launched with a telephone counselling service at Shanlin Road. In October 1963, it became one of the member of the society and changed the name to The Hong Kong Samaritans.

In 1965, due to the demolition of the venue, the government allocated the rent at Tiger Rock District.

In 1975, the second office was opened at Wan Chai in Hong Kong Island.

In 1976, it changed to the current name "The Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong".

In 1977, it became a member of the Community Chest.

In 1978, the Marino Herdsmen Centre rented a place at the Princess Margaret Road Herdsman's Centre at a nominal rent of 10 yuan. The Ho Man Tin Club was officially opened until 1980, due to the lack of human resources.

In 1982, the English Department was closed due to the lack of human resources.

In 1985, it moved to Shuncheng Village in Kowloon. It was converted to a registered company in 1994 and was successfully exempted from the donation tax. In the same year, with the assistance of the Social Welfare Department, the Housing Department has allocated the new clubhouse, staff office, and hotline service at the ground floor of the Lam Kam Estate, and the Shun Lee Estate Club will continue to serve as hotline service and training.

Services Provided

The service Samaritan provide is called Befriending. Befriending allows every callers to express their fears, worries, hopeless and feelings, in complete confidence, to a Samaritan volunteer who listens supportively, unconditionally and non-judgmentally. Callers can confide in their service in their personal way and in their own time. The listening service is supported entirely by a group of unpaid, well trained volunteers, who donate on average 11,400 hours a year to the listening service.

Suicide Prevention Services

The Suicide Prevention Services is a volunteer service agency in Hong Kong that provides counselling services for people who are suicidal, desperate and having emotional problems. The venue is located at Yidong Building and Dongtou Village in Kowloon. On January 10, 2011, it moved to the new site in Pingshi Village. The goal for Suicide prevention Services is raising general awareness towards suicide and identifying ways in which suicide can be effectively addressed.

History of Suicide Prevention Services

The predecessor of the Suicide Prevention Services, The Samaritans (Providing cantonese speaking service only), was established in 1995 under the Societies Ordinance. It provides a 12-hour daily hotline counselling service.

In 1997, the hotline service was extended to 18 Hours.

In 1998, it provide a 24-hour operational service.

In 1999, the first SPS Charity Walk was organised.

In 2000, the English name was officially changed to the current "Suicide Prevention Services".

In 2002, launch of Suicide Prevention Service for Youths – “SHKP Operation Sunshine”.

In 2004, the first SPS Flag Day was held.

In 2011, applied for registration to become Suicide Prevention Services Limited.

Services provided

• 24-hour Suicide Prevention Hotline Service
• Suicide Prevention Services for the Elderly
• Services for Survivors of Suicide Loss
• Community & Life Education
• Volunteer Training & Support

See Also

• Hong Kong
• Education System in Hong Kong
• Youth Suicide in Hong Kong
• British Hong Kong
• History of Hong Kong
• Suicide Prevention
• List of Suicide
• Culture of Hong Kong