At noon, provisional suicide figures for the period from July 2014-June 2015 were released by the Chief Coroner Judge Deborah Marshall showing the number of provisional suicides had risen to 564, up 6.6% from the 12 months prior and the highest since figures were first released eight years ago.
''Over the last eight years I believe we've seen a shift in society's preparedness to have a more open conversation about suicide, but we are not seeing any movement in what is an unfortunate static annual figure,'' Judge Marshall said.
''Yet again we are seeing a total suicide figure sitting in the mid-500 range. Our provisional suicide figures go back eight years and in that time there has been a variation of 35 suicide deaths.''
Judge Marshall acknowledged the greater effort being put into suicide prevention, including the Ministry of Health's recently launched suicide prevention toolkit for district health boards and the trial Suicide Mortality Review Committee.
''I am in my first year as Chief Coroner and in that time I have been approached by many researchers and organisations that want to participate in changing our appalling rate of suicide,'' she said.
''Suicide prevention is not the job of any single agency or group, but involves all New Zealanders. Greater co-ordination of efforts may be the key.
''The aim of making these annual figures public is to give an up-to-date overview of what is a very important social issue.''
In the Southern District, suicides rose by 35.4% to 42. However, this is well below the 60 deaths attributed to suicide in the 2009/10 year.
Judge Marshall acknowledged that while provisional deaths by suicide were at their highest, the suicide rate - the number of suicides per 100,000 population - was below the 2010/11 and 2011/12 years.
The 2014/15 annual provisional suicide statistics show:
- A rise in the number of male suicides from 385 last year, to 428, which is the highest number of male suicides since these statistics began in 2007. However, by rate (18.96 per 100,000) it is the third highest since 2007.
- A drop in the number of female suicides from 144 last year to 136, which is the second lowest figure behind 134 (2007/08).
- The age cohort with the highest number of suicides was the 20-24-year-old group, with 61 deaths, followed by the 40-44-year-old group with 58 deaths.
- Male suicides made up 75.8 per cent of the total suicides for the year. This 3 to 1, male to female suicide rate has been observed for most of the last eight years, apart from the previous two years, where the ratio was about 2.5 to 1.
- The Maori suicide total (130 deaths) and rate (21.74 per 100,000) are the highest since the provisional statistics were first recorded for the 2007/08 year. Male Maori continue to be disproportionally represented in the provisional suicide statistics with 93 deaths last year.
Where to get help:
- Youth services: (06) 3555 906
- Youthline: 0800 376 633
- Kidsline: 0800 543 754 (4pm to 6pm weekdays)
- Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (noon to midnight)
- Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (24-hour service)
- Rainbow Youth: (09) 376 4155
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.
