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China's suicide rate soaring (December 10, 2008, AFP)
A two-year-old boy was orphaned in the southwest Chinese city of Chongzhou when his parents drank pesticide after a nasty row. The tragedy, reported in the state media last month, bears testimony to the dark side of reform - suicide rates that are now among the highest in the world. On average, a Chinese person takes his or her own life every two minutes, giving the world's most populous nation a dismal record as it prepares to celebrate 30 years of otherwise spectacular economic reform. With between 250,000 and 300,000 suicides a year, China accounts for about a quarter of the global total, according to medical sources. It is the only country in the world where more women than men take their own lives, with female suicides representing 58 percent of the total, they said.
A two-year-old boy was orphaned in the southwest Chinese city of Chongzhou when his parents drank pesticide after a nasty row. The tragedy, reported in the state media last month, bears testimony to the dark side of reform - suicide rates that are now among the highest in the world. On average, a Chinese person takes his or her own life every two minutes, giving the world's most populous nation a dismal record as it prepares to celebrate 30 years of otherwise spectacular economic reform. With between 250,000 and 300,000 suicides a year, China accounts for about a quarter of the global total, according to medical sources. It is the only country in the world where more women than men take their own lives, with female suicides representing 58 percent of the total, they said.
