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The Change in Suicide Rates between 2002 and 2011 in China
Author(s) -
Zhang Jie,
Sun Long,
Liu Yuxin,
Zhang Jianwei
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
suicide and life‐threatening behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.544
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1943-278X
pISSN - 0363-0234
DOI - 10.1111/sltb.12090
Subject(s) - suicide rates , demography , china , census , christian ministry , geography , suicide prevention , poison control , population , medicine , environmental health , political science , sociology , archaeology , law
Chinese suicide rates have been reported in various studies in the past two decades, but few of them were based on national data. The most recent mortality data (2002–2011) provided by the China Ministry of Health and the detailed census data provided by the National Population Census were used in this study. We calculated the age‐, gender‐, and region‐specific suicide rates and their trends in the past 10 years between 2002 and 2011. The overall suicide rates in China decreased during the study period. The rural/urban ratio of the suicide rates has been significantly reduced from the ratio in the 1990s, and male suicide rates have exceeded those of females. Age was positively associated with suicide rates without the two peaks found in the suicide rates over 20 years ago. The Chinese suicide rates have significantly declined in the past decade, with withering of the unique suicide rate patterns previously found in Chinese suicides about 20 years ago.