A rise in suicides among young Hongkongers has sparked calls for more action. Photo: Shutterstock Suicide is acknowledged by the World Health Organization as a public health priority. It has become the fourth-leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29. With a teenage suicide rate among the highest in the developed world, Hong Kong has seen a distressing surge in youngsters taking their own lives in recent years.
The Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) sounded the alarm in November last year, after recording 22 suicide attempts between August and October. This figure is double the number over the same period in 2022.
Its provisional data showed that the suicide rate for those aged 15 to 24 had already almost doubled to 12.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022 from 6.2 in 2014.
Tracking media reports, it found 67 suspected suicides and 50 attempts involving people aged below 25 in Hong Kong last year.
Police said that as of mid-November, there had been 37 cases of suspected suicide and 269 of attempted suicide involving students last year, with a mean age of 15.8. The youngest individual was nine years old.
Of the suspected suicides last year, 32 involved primary and secondary school students, more than double the figure in 2018, according to the Education Bureau.
The crisis sparked efforts to identify and support youngsters at risk. Frontline workers and teenagers who had recovered from suicide-related crises said more had to be done to engage young people, listen to their needs and encourage them to seek help.
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It was also time to scrutinise the recent suicides to understand why young Hongkongers took their lives and come up with better ways to help those in need.
Officials and experts had earlier attributed the surge to the Covid-19 pandemic, saying that after three years of restrictions and disruption to school life, some students struggled academically and socially when full-day in-person classes returned.
The government responded to the crisis by rolling out subsidies and measures to support schools in handling students with mental health needs.
But even getting youngsters to seek help is a challenge.
Chan Ka-ling, an assistant executive director of Youth Outreach, said it was common for young people to have trust issues and worry about the stigma of seeking help.
As a result, they preferred looking for support outside school, especially through online counselling platforms where they could remain anonymous.
Fewer than 1 in 10 seek help
In a survey of 4,000 primary and secondary school students in 2022, associate professor Paul Wong Wai-ching of HKU’s department of social work and social administration found that fewer than one in 10 were prepared to share their problems with researchers or teachers.
Among those uninterested in seeking help, 15 per cent showed significant emotional distress and increased risk of suicide, including 5 per cent who needed intensive mental health intervention.
On the other hand, those who said they were open to receiving help did not ask for much.
Wong said the survey showed the need to encourage young people to seek help, but in the city’s haste to move past the pandemic, this might not happen enough.
He added that after the social unrest of 2019, there was also a need to rebuild trust between young people and adults.
Mental health education crucial
Specialist in Psychiatry Dr Chan Kai-tai, associate director of the Hong Kong Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, said both adults and youngsters needed mental health education to tear down the barriers between them.
Chan observed that young people often struggled before speaking up or seeking help, as they feared they might worry their parents or end up being ignored or labelled.
He referred to research by the Chinese University of Hong Kong which showed that almost half the carers of distressed youngsters did not seek professional help because they underestimated the severity of the situation, feared stigma or did not know how to get help.
‘Give young people a voice’
Last December, more than a dozen teenagers formed the Hong Kong Student Alliance on Student Suicide, an advocacy group that hoped to deliver their views to the government and raise public awareness through campaigns and seminars.
“Many students have told us they can hardly imagine their future,” said Heather Yeung Hoi-tung, 19, one of its children’s rights advocates.
Yeung urged the government to do more to engage students on the subject of youth suicide.
Rebecca Wong Wing-kam, assistant director of the Boys’ & Girls’ Clubs Association, an NGO dedicated to the welfare of children and youth, suggested schools adopt a compassionate approach and give students a voice.
“Mental health is not just a personal issue,” she said. “It’s very relevant to the family and school environment, and by working with stakeholders in those environments, we can further support the students.”
If you have suicidal thoughts or know someone who is experiencing them, help is available. In Hong Kong, dial +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services.