Statisticians at the Australian Bureau of of Statistics conjure up some extraordinary numbers. Uncoloured by the emotions of human stories or the rhetoric of any agenda, they are like scientific readings of temperature a simple statement of fact. Nowhere is the sinister adage of the coldness of figures more apparent in the tabulated charts from the ABS on the causes of death; one man dies it is a tragedy, a million die and it is a statistic.
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But dwelling on them tells us some disturbing things about the nation and the communities we live in. In many ways the latest added data on the causes of death in Australia and its analysis of common diseases like Ischaemic heart disease are predictable. But buried amongst this clinical data like a coiled serpent is suicide. Almost all the top causes of death have median ages of death well into the eighties, what might almost be called anticipated mortality. But there at number 13 is suicide with a median death rate of only 44 years, almost half the average life expectancy or the average age all other causes of death kill people.
Putting aside the notorious difficulty in reporting suicide or the fear that is most likely widely unreported or critical in such areas as indigenous Australians, what is conveyed in this figure is the sense of unexpectedness and an enduring sense of waste. The bald statistics are not new and reveal some menacing facts, the death rate from suicide has jumped from 10.2 in 2006 to 12.6 per 100,000. 19.3 deaths per 100,000 for men and 6.1 deaths per 100,000 for women. They account for one-third of deaths among people 15-24 years of age, and over a quarter of deaths among those 25-34 years of age. It is also the leading cause of death among all people 15-44 years of age.
Even more devastating is an ABS measurement titled Years of Potential Life Lost based on 'premature' mortality, counting the total number of years between age at death and an 'average' life expectancy. Soaring alarmingly out in front is suicide that makes up 11 percent of lost years or more than 100,000 years of human life lost.
But coming back to the baldness of these statistics. While we may not be able to draw exact Ballarat figures, we do know anecdotally just how many families these terrible statistics affect. If suicide is the wasteful end point of mental illness, it is not a good time for governments or health providers to take their focus away on the urgency of the situation or the incalculable waste.
Lifeline: 13 11 14
