Number of Suicides and Attempted Suicides

NOTICE PAPER NO. 806 
NOTICE OF QUESTION FOR ORAL ANSWER
FOR THE SITTING OF PARLIAMENT ON 2 NOVEMBER 2021

Name and Constituency of Member of Parliament
Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap
MP for Aljunied GRC

Question No. 2084

To ask the Minister for Health (a) what is the annual number of suicides and attempted suicides, broken down by (i) age, race, education level and economic background for each of the years between 2011 and 2015 and (ii) race, education level and economic background for each of the years between 2016 and 2020; and (b) what are the causes that led to these suicides and attempted suicides.

Answer

The number of suicide cases is publicly released in the Report on Registration of Births and Deaths by the Immigration and Checkpoint Authority (ICA) on an annual basis, where there is breakdown by age and race.  

From the published data, we can deduce that by age, younger people 19 years and below account for disproportionately fewer suicides, while the converse is true for people aged 60 and above. By race, Malays account for disproportionately fewer suicides, while converse is true for Indians. 

Breakdown by education level and economic background are not available. 

There are usually multiple factors that may lead a person to commit and attempt suicide. These factors include relationship, family, social, financial, mental and physical health issues.