Suicide is second highest cause of death in males

Two thirds of New Zealand's injury-related deaths in 2002 were males, with suicides featuring prominently behind road fatalities.

Statistics New Zealand figures released yesterday show there were 1659 injury deaths, with road fatalities (32 per cent) being the biggest contributor, and suicides being the second most common cause of death among males.

For females, the majority of injury-related deaths in 2002 were caused by falls (169), mainly elderly people.

Age-standardised incident rates show that the leading cause of fatal injuries for females was transport at 7 per 100,000 females, followed by suicide (5 per 100,000 females). The suicide rate for males was 17 per 100,000. The number of road fatalities dropped 25 per cent from 598 in 1994 to 446 last year.

Almost half of the 81 work-related injury fatalities in 2002 resulted from transport accidents, and those most affected were aged 35 to 44.

Such incidents were most likely to occur in industrial and construction areas or on farms.

The number of drowning fatalities decreased from 130 in 1994 to 117 in 2004, with the majority of fatalities being male.

The lag in releasing the statistics is due to the length of time it can take to formally confirm causes of deaths.

- NZPA