Abstract
Recent trends in the incidence and methodology of suicide in Singapore are presented and compared with a similar study done 20 years previously. The study covers a total of 2843 suicidal deaths reported to the coroner from 1975–84 that were investigated by the Government Department of Pathology. The results show that the crude suicide rate has been increasing since 1977 and that the rate was highest in elderly males. The three most popular methods of suicide employed were jumping from a height (58.4 per cent), hanging (25.6 per cent) and poisoning (10.2 per cent). Comparison of the results with the previous study carried out for 1955–64 showed a significant increase in the mean crude suicide rate which was almost exclusively contributed to by an increase in the rate for females. There was also a significant change in the popularity of methods of suicide employed.
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