Figures give shocking picture of violent death

ONE person commits suicide roughly every 40 seconds, one person is murdered every 60 seconds and one person dies in armed conflict every 100 seconds, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.

Overall, WHO estimated that 1.6 million people met premature and ugly deaths in 2000.

In what it described as the most exhaustive international study into the problem, the UN health agency highlighted the extent of violence in the home and on the street, abuse of children and the elderly, suicide and war.

"The figures for violent death tell only part of the story," said the report's author Etienne Krug. "Physical, sexual and psychological abuse occur in every country on a daily basis, undermining the health and wellbeing of many millions of people."

Krug's team spent three years writing the 346-page report, based on research from 160 experts on 170 countries.

The report said an estimated 520,000 people were murdered in 2000 not including unlawful deaths disguised as accidents or natural causes. For every person who died, 20-40 others were admitted to hospital with injuries.

The toll included 199,000 young people aged 10-29 who were invariably killed by other young people often the result of alcohol and drug abuse or easy access to firearms.

It said youth homicides in the United States, in many Latin American countries and the former Soviet bloc soared, while stabilising or falling in much of western Europe and Canada.

Within countries, there were big social and racial differences. In the US, African-American youths are 12 times more likely to be murdered than whites.

The report estimated that 815,000 people killed themselves in 2000 making suicide the 13th leading cause of death worldwide. People older than 60 were most likely to take their own life. On average men were three times more likely to kill themselves than women.