A government research probe is examining why so many of Hong Kong's elderly try to end their lives

AT the age of 88 Chu Pui-ying would appear to have more than many people of her generation. She is healthy and has family and friends around her.

But Ms Chu is desperately unhappy. Earlier this month she tried to jump to her death from a third-floor window, but a friend pulled her back.

She is among the hundreds of elderly people who try to end their lives every year in Hong Kong, where the suicide rate among senior citizens is one of the highest in the world.

For three years, Ms Chu has spent at least eight hours a day wandering the streets or staying at a centre for the elderly near her public housing flat in Sau Mau Ping estate. Rather than taking comfort from living with her relatives, Ms Chu wants to get away from them. She alleged that her son and daughter-in-law had been treating her badly. They refused to eat with her at the same table or even talk to her.

According to the Census and Statistics Department, 27 per cent of the people who committed suicide in 1998 were over 65.

Senior citizens are killing themselves at the rate of about one every 40 hours, with 221 of the 819 people who committed suicide that year being elderly.

The Elderly Commission's working group on elderly suicide and depression issued a report in July last year recommending that more in-depth and comprehensive research be conducted. The commission found that stress arising from tragic life events - such as bereavement caused by the loss of a spouse - prolonged illness and depression were the major risk factors leading to suicides among the elderly.