Suicide Rate Going Down In Thailand

With suicide (or the attempt thereof) in the news in America today, it's nice to note that suicide rates in Thailand are apparently falling.

In Thailand, it seems like huge numbers of people commit suicide... however, the reason for this is that newspapers here in Thailand report this kind of thing. (At least, the English-speaking newspapers in Pattaya certainly do.) In America, suicides are not reported as news, but the level of suicide in America is twice what it is per 100,000 people as compared to Thailand.

And... in fact, according to this chart (which I went and juggled in Excel to do the figgerin') the United States is 44th in the world in suicide rates, and Thailand is 72nd. Former Soviet countries, Eastern European countries, and then Northern European countries top the list at between 4 times and 2 times the rate of America. Japan and Sri Lanka are the only Asian countries even remotely high on the list. Countries with the lowest suicide rates are in the Middle East and Latin America.

Now you know.

P.S. I was just noticing: The parts of the world with the lowest suicide rates are the places with the strongest religious beliefs, and greatest expectation of life after death, while those with the highest suicide rates have the highest portion of the population who don't put a lot of faith in heaven or an afterlife. Interesting.