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Salient. Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 42 No. 19. August 6 1979

Causes of Death in Japan

Causes of Death in Japan

From the figures that are produced by the Government's Central Department of Health, the following observations emerg for the year ended 1977.

Infant mortality (0 — 1 yrs): 22.7% of deaths are due to malformation. ([unclear: Japane] research workers maintain that this figure is actually well below the true proportion

1 — 4 yrs: The major cause of death is accidents, followed by malformation. These are followed a long way behind by "Normal Medical [unclear: Causes]".

5 — 9 yrs: The major cause is again accident, the second is cancer, the third, malformation and then "Normal Medical Causes".

For the rest of the population, graduated from 15 onwards, suicide, accident and cancer interchange as the three principle causes of death.

Suicide is accepted amongst Western societies as being part and parcel of the Japanese culture, however there are many Japanese who are questioning the presently rising rate of suicide, particularly among the young.

Official Government figures show that in 1977, 784 children aged between 9 and 19, committed suicide, with nearly 8000 attempted suicides being reported (those where intervention prevented death). Police Department figures suggest however that these figures are seriously under estimated.