Working Hongkongers no less vulnerable to suicide risks

The World Health Organisation estimates that there are about one million suicide deaths every year, which represents a "global" mortality rate of 16 per 100,000 people - or one death every 40 seconds. For every death by suicide, 20 or more people attempt to end their lives.

In Hong Kong, about 1,000 people kill themselves each year - a rate of 13.6 per 100,000, which is slightly below the world average but still higher than that of Australia (12 per 100,000), the US (11) and Britain (9).

The rate for employed people between 20 and 59 years old is 7.24 per 100,000 - much lower than that of their unemployed counterparts in the same age group. However, both groups suffer similar problems.

Based on Coroner's Court data from 2002 to 2010, employed individuals constitute about 30 per cent of all suicides each year (around 300 people), of which 70 per cent were male, 39 per cent were never married, 41 per cent had psychiatric problems and 40 per cent had financial problems. Most people in work who killed themselves were aged between 20 and 49, meaning they were in the prime of their lives.

Such findings are a reminder that while unemployment is often seen as a risk factor in suicide, we should not overlook the employed population.

In our study, we also found that two professions - nursing and the police force - had a higher suicide rate than the overall employed population, at 9.46 and 9.39 per 100,000 respectively, while the rate for teachers was about 7.35 per 100,000. Among police officers and teachers who committed suicide, over half were married; by contrast, 54 per cent of the nurses were single. Close to half the teachers who committed suicide had work-related problems. Evidence of debt was a common factor for suicide in the overall population and also among police officers (44 per cent).