Culture - Integrative Strength

Sex Balance of Suicide Rates, 2003

Note: Number of female suicides minus number of male suicides per 100,000 of the population.
* Selected rural and urban areas in China; ** Hong Kong SAR

Source: World Health Organization, Most Recent Years Available. Data as of May 2003. Downloaded in August 2005 from WHO web site at: www.who.int/mental_health/prevention/suicide/suiciderates/en/print.html

The above figure displays the unusually high rate of female suicides in China. In fact, China may be the only country worldwide, where the number of female suicides is higher than the number of male suicides. Usually, men are much more likely to commit suicide than females. For instance, while the number of male suicides in the US was 17.6 per 100,000 of the population in 1999, it was only 4.1 for females. It was estimated that suicide is the leading cause of death among Chinese people age 15-34 - particularly among the women.

In the past, the Chinese government has been quite reluctant to acknowledge the problem, but in March 2002 China established its first Suicide Research and Prevention Center in Beijing. Still it is difficult, if not impossible, to get reliable data on China's suicide rate.

Mental health experts are still puzzled why suicides rates are so high among Chinese females - particularly in rural areas. Some have argued that women in remote farming villages are subject to high social and cultural pressure - based on century-old cultural traditions. Others, however, have argued that the shock of modernization is especially hitting those, who have little opportunities to participate in the economic and cultural transformation of the country. Whatever the reason, it seems that China has a serious problem with social and cultural cohesion - particularly in rural areas.

Literature:

Elvin, Mark (1984): Female Virtue and the State in China. In: Past and Present, Vol. 104, 111-152.  (Famous article on female suicide out of chastity.)

Phillips, Michael R. / Li, Xianyun / Zhang, Yanping (2002): Suicide Rates in China, 1995-1999" In: Lancet, Vol. 359, March 9: 835-840.

Witke, Roxanne (1967): Mao Tse-tung, Women and Suicide. In: The China Quarterly, Vol. 31

Wu, Jane Jia-jing (1991): Suicides and suicide survivors of the Cultural Revolution.  In: Bushnell, P. Timothy, et al., eds. (1991): State organized terror: the case of violent internal repression  (Boulder, Colo.: Westview) 289-302