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How did China get their suicide rates so low compared to Japan and South Korea? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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(Obvious answer is socialism but I would like more specifics)

Often China, South Korea and Japan are treated as the "big three" of stress and expectations. Between their similar college entrance exams, demanding work schedules and environments, and social expectations for people to work hard and get rich and such.

But looking at suicide rates (which are only one piece of the puzzle of course) China places fairly low, at about 6.7 per 100,000 according to Wikipedia, half of Japan's and nearly a quarter of south korea's. Interestingly this is not just a cultural difference, as the Chinese province of Taiwan reports about 16 per 100,000 people, which is even higher than Japan. It also isn't the just case of a high density population compared to low density like Finland and Iceland, since Japan and the ROK fit this designation as well (as well as India, who has a rate even higher than Japan's)

The obvious answer is socialism, but that's a little broad and not how you actually solve things. Not to mention that cuba has a decently high rate too (although considering their current impoverishment it's not surprising). So what happened specifically? Poverty alleviation sure but that can't be all of it, I don't think so anyway.

(Additional notes and questions

A.The DPRK has a rate of 8, nearly a third of the ROK, suck it fake korea

B.Why is venezuala's rate so low? From the source Wikipedia uses its one of the lowest in the world, despite the generally high poverty and instability

C.Why is Afganistan's so low? Unsure if anyone has a concrete answer to this but I'm curious)

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 3 days ago (1 children)

the gaokao competitiveness for top schooling actually is inverted (monetarily speaking) compared to the west. The top schools are usually publicly funded and have lower tuitions compared to private schools. (that said gaokao is very intense, I had a cousin who spent a whole year to redo it to try to get better placement)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

So is the quality of the schooling different? Do public schools have better education overall? Is it so competitive because of the cheaper cost and better funding? Trying to understand how it all works. Kind of sounds like it's pressuring lower income students to have to prove themselves to get the cheaper (cost wise) schooling whereas the more wealthy can pay their way through the private schooling sector. And that sounds like the west only instead of fighting to get a grant into a high end private school they are fighting to get into a cheaper costing public school. Which in the end, both cases sound like it's about paying less for an education.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I can't speak for China, but in India we have a similar system where those who do well on exams gain admission into top public schools and those who don't have to settle for a private school which isn't as selective but more expensive. As far as I know the private schools are really just backup plans for those who can afford it and aren't very prestigious compared to the public schools.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Similar in Poland. At elementary and middle education level private is massively expensive but also usually better though that is mostly because constant cuts to public education means that regardless of failing birthrates there is always too much kids in class and too much duties for teachers. At those levels there are no pressure about it though, nobody is even asking which school you finished. But at university level state universities are free and much better while having much more competition while private schools are usually much worse.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

1/ unsure for every case

2/ don't have enough data but just stating the trend: the top ranked schools are all public, just check out the rankings, tip top ones are all public nonprofit.

3/ I'm not super familiar with the entire landscape to know if all public schools are strictly better or not; I'm just aware of general public opinion that private schools are more expensive and more mid. Generally, less prestigious. However, at least as a personal observation, wealthier parents tend to choose to find a way for their kid to go to an overseas university if they don't like the private schooling options after midling gaokao results. (as american born chinese these wealthy "princess complex" international classmates colored my impression of mainlanders for a while during my uni years... i suppose that's both to my own and their detriment :/ it is what it is)

iirc rural area hukou students and ethnic minority students get boosted points for gaokao also, there's definitely affirmative action in that regard.

edit: clarity