Analysis of WHO suicide dataset

Today I would like summarise some data-driven insights obtained from a WHO dataset which collects basic information on verified suicides cases across the world. This dataset was replicated on the Kaggle [1] platform. More information can be obtained from the online interactive dashboard [2]. See below for a short video which illustrates how to explore the dataset.

Most world countries are covered in this survey, with exception of a number of east Asian and south Asian countries. The data are collected between 1979 and 2016. Data are reported as number of cases per-million of population.

When looking at the full dataset, integrated over time and country, it is possible to have a glimpse of what are the age groups more at risk of committing suicide. It can be noted that, by far, suicides in the 75+ age group are the majority; males are approximately three times more likely to commit suicide than females.

Bermuda, Lithuania, Hungary, Sri Lanka and Russia are the countries with largest suicide rates between 1979 and 2016 overall; they count between approximately 450 and 300 suicides per million of population, to be compared with a world average of 131. However, cases in Bermuda are just very few, three suicides, thus statistically non significant.

The demographics of these data has a strong geographical connotation.

Let’s have a look at some examples.

In Russia the average age of men committing suicide is much lower than world average data. In Japan the relative amount of females committing suicide is significantly higher although still a minority compared to men population. Most affected age group for suicides among females in Sri Lanka is 15-24 years. Nicaragua is another country with alarming suicides rates across young age groups.

This is really a simplified data analysis. On the other hand, these sort of analyses could be easily used as guidance on how to reinforce social policies addressing weak groups of society which are more likely to commit suicide.

References

[1] https://www.kaggle.com/szamil/who-suicide-statistics

[2] https://public.tableau.com/profile/orlando2566#!/vizhome/WHO-Suicide-Data/WHOsuicidedata