Does number of lives matter to you?
By: Shanghua Liao
Tags: Suicide

Image by Heather Plew from Pixabay

Ireland is one of the countries with the most serious mental illness in European countries. The Irish Times claims that the incidence of depression in men and women in Ireland is much higher than the average level in other European countries. According to the data of World Population Review 2020, suicide rate in Ireland ranks 29th among European countries, with a suicide rate of 11.5 per 100,000 people. Although the ranking is not very high, this is still an issue that can not be ignored.

30 out of every 100 suicides are in Dublin and Cork

According to data from the Central Statistics Office, the official number of suicides in Ireland was 4666 from 2010 to 2019. Dublin has the highest suicide rate among 26 counties, accounting for about 16% of the suicide rate in Ireland. Cork followed closely with about 14%. This may have great relations with the density of the resident population, as most of the Irish population is concentrated in Dublin and Cork.

In 2019, 8 women committed suicide over a 10-week period (April — July 2019) in Ballyfermot Community, where is a Dublin community with 14.7% unemployment rate, 20%-23% of adults are low school-completion rate and 47% of lone parent households families. And therefore the HSE National Office of Suicide Prevention (HSE NOSP) also conducted a suicide investigation and Suicide Prevention Action Plan for Dublin South specifically for the community to assess and prevent possible suicides in the Ballyfermot community.

Compared with people living in remote areas, people living in big cities are forced to face a greater housing crisis, work, pressure, and the temptation of alcohol and addictive reliefs like drugs. For single-parent families in particular, they not only need to worry about the daily expenses of themselves and their children, but they also have to worry whether their children will be expelled from Tusla once they seek support. BreakingNews indicates that there is basically no way for those single parents to bear all the stress by themselves, as a result they choose to commit suicide to end their miseries and hardships. Therefore, it does not mean that everyone does have a higher sense of happiness, even though big cities do provide a richer entertainment life for young people than suburbs or countrysides and provide more opportunities.

80 out of every 100 suicides are men

The line graph shows that the male suicide rate in Ireland is 4.5 times higher than the female suicide rate. Although the overall trend has declined, this difference in suicide rates between men and women has not changed much. This development trend is similar to the situation in many other countries.

There are many reasons which explains this difference, such as different ways of suicide and solving problems, different levels of social responsibility. As men are more inclined to choose brutal ways to end their lives, firearms are one of these brutal methods and one of the most common suicide methods in the world in Our World Data.

The way of education is another significant factor. Men have been taught to be strong and independent from an early age, not to easily show their weaknesses, while women are allowed to talk to anyone whenever they encounter troubles, especially their parents. When a man is in

a certain predicament, asking somebody else for help should be the first thing that comes to their mind but yet, that is not their first option. On the contrary, they are more willing to choose more direct and efficient methods to deal with problems, such as drinking, drugs and violence, which they think, eases their pain but instead put them into a worse predicament.

With the great progress of society, a women’s social status and economic strength are becoming stronger, but most families still follow the traditional division of labor. Men are expected to make money to support their families, while women are mainly responsible for the daily life of the family and children. That means the income of men will determine the quality of life of the entire family. Therefore, the high male suicide rate is also closely related to the fierce social competition and high unemployment rate in the current society.

13 out of every 100 suicides are young people

In Ireland, youth suicide is a serious problem as seen in the graph above. Between 2011 and 2018, the suicide rate among young people reached 13% of the total suicide rate. It can be seen from the chart that suicide happens more frequently between those who are aged from 18 to 24, accounting for 81.5% of the total number of suicides among young people. This is indeed a shocking number and a matter for concern.

For some young students, they may not really understand what death is and what the consequences of death are. When they are depressed, they can not find a reason or courage to survive. In fact, the occurrence of tragedies is often closely related to schools and families. As Kok and Goh said, heavy schoolwork, improper peer competition, unstable family relationships and inappropriate emotional handling are the main reasons why young people choose to commit suicide. Compared with female students, the emotional barriers experienced by male students are more complicated because they are not good at sharing their feelings with others. The accumulation of negative emotions problems brings them tremendous mental pressure, which leads them to choose suicide.

Attention should also be paid when analyzing adolescent mortality. McAleese said that compared with the average level of teenagers, gay teenagers are twice as likely to self-harm, three times as likely to commit suicide, and four times as likely to be anxious or depressed. Not to mention the rate of bullying they usually encounter at school. The story behind all these data is frightening.

These ever-increasing numbers continue to remind us how many families suffer the loss of their loved ones. We are not the involved parties, so we can not fully help the people from their despair and pain when they decide to end their lives, nor can we understand how much pain and suffering has brought it to the rest of family. When a person loses all his hopes and loses the will to continue living, and he knows that he is unable to do anything about it, leaving the world and escaping all his burdens seem like the only solution for him. Can we even imagine what it seems like to someone to completely lose his hopes and will to continue his life?

Each increase in the number represents the end of a life. There are numerous reasons and it is difficult to figure out the reason behind each happening. However, each number should be taken seriously and must be a matter of concern.