Education in States and Nations: 1991

(ESN) Indicator 7: Youth violent death rate

Demographers classify deaths by accident, suicide, or homicide collectively as "violent deaths." The three different types of violent death are rather different from one another in their character and societal implications, however. Homicide, for example, results from the violent behavior of one individual toward another, creating a social environment of danger. While suicide may be another way some individuals respond to social alienation or stress, it does not create a social environment of danger. The youth violent death rate is measured here by the number of deaths by accident, suicide, or homicide among young people aged 5 to 24 in a country or state. Some homicides and suicides may get misclassified as accidental deaths or "other"; perhaps deliberately so in some societies. A high youth violent death rate suggests that a society's youth bear the burden of problems that compete with the schools for their attention. Moreover, youth suicide and homicide may represent only the most extreme responses to larger and deeper social problems among a state's or nation's youth.

• Of the G-7 countries, in the late 1980s the United States had the highest overall violent death rate (481 per 1,000,000 youths), a rate more than twice as high as those of Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom (207, 232, and 235, respectively) and almost 30 percent higher than that of Canada, the G-7 country with the second highest rate (378). The United States was the leader in accidents (315) and homicides (86), and was third after East Germany and Canada in suicides (72, 142, and 88, respectively). The United States' youth homicide rate was over 20 times higher than that of Japan, the G-7 country with the lowest homicide rate (4), and over 6 times higher than that of Canada, the G-7 nation with the second highest homicide rate (13).

• Colombia was the only country with a homicide rate over 100, with 208 per 1,000,000 youths. Nine of the U.S. states recorded homicide rates higher than 100. Seventeen of the thirty countries, however, maintained youth homicide rates below 10, which none of the U.S. states did.

• For 25 of the 30 countries represented here, the number of suicides exceeded the number of homicides among youths. The United States, however, was one of the 5 countries in which the relationship was the reverse.

• New York and New Jersey were the only 2 states with suicide rates lower than 50 per 1,000,000 youths. Half of the countries had suicide rates this low.

Notes on interpretation:

Societies vary in their tolerance of the act of suicide. Some societies are more likely than others to judge that suicide represents justifiable behavior in certain circumstances; or, looked at another way, they may be less likely to condemn it without reservation.

Countries also vary in their level of development in forensic science. Some countries are better able to precisely determine cause of death than others. To some degree, countries may show higher levels of suicide and homicide because they are better able to detect them. But countries and states also vary in the availability of critical care medical services. To some degree, countries or states may show higher levels of violent death because critical care medical services are not as available as in other countries or states. Critical care medical services are especially difficult to provide in predominantly rural countries or states where the population is dispersed over a wide area.

Table 6b

Figure 7a