Suicide rate

Suicide rate among Māori men rises to highest in decade

Ministry of Health figures showed that among Māori males the suicide rate was 31.7 per 100,000 in 2016, up from 25.6 per 100,000 the preceding year. The figure is the highest rate in the previous decade and more than twice that of the non-Māori male rate of 14.3 per 100,000.

The rate for Māori women and girls fell slightly from 11.2 to 10.1 per 100,000 in 2016, but was still just over double the non-Māori female rate of 4.9 per 100,000.

New Zealand's overall suicide numbers also reached a 10-year high in 2016 with 553 people dying by suicide, up from 529 in 2015.

Hundreds lie down in Lithuania to highlight suicide rate

About 800 people participated in the action Tuesday evening, responding to a call by actor Arunas Sakalauskas, who has lost eight close friends.

Sakalauskas said during the protest that the number lying on the ground corresponds approximately to the annual number who commit suicide in the nation of 2.9 million.

Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in Europe with 28.2 deaths per 100,000 people annually, according to the World Health Organization.