Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yaya]

I hear Australia has a high suicide rate. One Aussie told me it's because of the lack of decent jobs for university graduates. I remember seeing this documentary back in the 1990s about it.

So why the high suicide rate?

[aarontendo]

Because the dingo ate their baby.

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

I think a lot of it has to do with Australia still being a very macho culture where men are supposed to be tough and keep their emotions to themselves. If they have a trouble, it's perfectly find to drink to excess but there's still a stigma with seeking help. I also think that Australian society is also more a collective society than American society and if you don't fit in with the group you can be ostracized, sometimes severely. A high proportion of gay and indigenous Australians commit suicide.

As a result, a lot of young men drink and take drugs to excess and partake in other risk-taking activities such as speeding and driving dangerously to counter any issues they have.

[bjonothan]

Australia certainly isn't the worst country for suicide. One reason for suicide in Australia would probably be linked to the Aboriginal problems. A lot of them commit suicide in jail.
I read once that the UK has a pretty high suicide rate because of the weather. Tasmania has pretty horrible weather and when I was growing up, they used to climb up the grain silo and then jump. If the fall didn't do a good enough job, the next train that came along finished the job.
I have never personally known any Australian to kill themself.
Aussie people are quite prone to teasing and trying to humiliate people for very little or no reason. Infact, the government had to implement a program to try and stop it happening in schools so much. I think that is one of the worst aspects of Aussie people.
I googled our suicide rates, and although they weren't great, they weren't the worst. It seems strange that you asked about the Australian suicide rate rather than other countries where it is much higher.

[itaewonguy]

every country has humans whom kill themselves..
end of the day its all depression based..

[Stormy]

[Yaya]

I never said Australia had one of the highest, but I just remember seeing a documentary back in 1994 or 1995 about the high youth suicide rate there. Finland, Russia and Hungary are tops in suicide.

[AussieGav]

There is a higher than average rate of suicide among young men in rural areas. Part of the reason is easy access to firearms and a lack of opportunity for work and an inability to speak openly.

There is also a high rate among Aboriginal people both in prison and in the community.

Some of the other comments ring true aswell with relation to a machoistic society where young men are afraid or unable to speak to peers or older people about their problems for fear of being called a wimp or similar.

[mrgiles]

[chris_J2]

At one point in the early 90's, Youth Suicide in Australia, was the highest in the world.

http://www.nisu.flinders.edu.au/pubs/bulletin15/bulletin15sup.html

http://www.wesleymission.org.au/publications/r&d/suicide.htm

[Down-Under]

Probably is the stress of having more Americans visit.

[cunning_stunt]

Judging by how much higher the rate for men is than the women in those graphs , the "macho" culture might have a bit to do with it .

[peemil]

You ever lived here?

This bloody country is enough to make you want to top yourself.

[chris_J2]

The suicide % & # for Canada in 1994, in the U of Adelaide link above (figure 19), was identical to Australia. (24 deaths per 100,000) Small towns with a population under 4,000 had higher suicide rates. And New Zealand was way ahead of both Oz & Ca. (39 deaths per 100,000). Tragic all round.

[guido]

everyone is an expert...