Australian Church concerned over suicide rate of Aboriginal children

A newly released report has shown that, between 2016 and 2020, suicide has been the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged between 5 and 17. The report published by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs) also found almost one-third of deaths of Indigenous children was due to suicide. The data recorded that in 2020 alone a total of 223 Aboriginal minors took their own lives, with a record number of 70 in Queensland. Moreover, suicides still represent a significantly higher proportion of deaths in young Indigenous Australian age groups compared to non-Indigenous Australians. Data showed the rates of suicide deaths per 100,000 people among Indigenous Australians were 16.7 and 45.7 in those aged 0-24 and 25-44 years respectively. These rates were 3.2 and 2.8 times as high as in non-Indigenous ...