Social capital and suicide: an ecological study in Tokyo, Japan

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics, social capital, and suicide rate of 20 areas

Area	Sociodemographic area characteristics*						Social capital variable (%)**					Age-adjusted suicide rate (%)***
Area	Population	Density (pop./km²)	Unemployment (%)	Primary industry (%)	Elderly people (%)	Psychiatrists (/10⁵ pop.)	Organizational membership	Social trust	Fairness	Helpfulness	Confidence in organizations	Men	Women
Wards
1	189,632	16767	4.53	0.1	18.3	55.9	0.61	0.71	0.76	0.47	4.98	29.6	15.3
2	523,083	16260	6.33	0.1	18.74	19.69	0.62	0.46	0.81	0.15	5.54	35.7	15.3
3	692,339	14376	5.09	0.5	18.89	9.68	0.59	0.52	0.74	0.11	5.48	31.5	13.4
4	624,807	11745	7.28	0.2	19.78	8.64	0.88	0.50	0.83	0.33	5.92	34.6	14.6
5	165,186	16388	6.3	0.0	22.83	10.9	0.67	0.48	0.67	0.41	5.37	39.7	18.3
6	231,173	16813	6.35	0.0	20.18	10.38	0.50	0.45	0.65	0.20	5.85	34.0	12.5
7	420,845	10657	6.17	0.0	17.28	4.51	0.69	0.52	0.76	0.24	5.97	30.9	13.4
8	203,334	13457	4.99	0.1	18.14	31.97	0.58	0.67	0.58	0.24	5.58	29.9	14.4
9	346,357	15245	4.93	0.1	17.96	12.13	0.72	0.52	0.60	0.36	5.20	29.7	13.6
10	841,165	14483	4.34	0.4	16.9	18.07	0.73	0.63	0.70	0.40	5.37	27.3	11.7
11	528,587	15538	5.01	0.2	18.61	5.3	0.60	0.60	0.88	0.28	5.68	29.0	13.3
12	310,627	19925	6.81	0.1	18.19	4.19	0.55	0.30	0.65	0.10	5.05	31.5	13.4
Suburbs
1	79,587	1085	4.91	2.0	19.23	7.54	1.00	0.75	0.88	0.42	6.92	24.9	11.3
2	137,525	12817	4.75	0.4	17.63	13.82	0.60	0.48	0.56	0.28	5.60	26.1	13.1
3	216,119	10038	5.62	0.7	16.66	14.81	0.68	0.60	0.60	0.16	5.12	22.8	10.7
4	176,538	6413	5.18	0.8	17.2	3.4	0.83	0.66	0.72	0.21	5.79	28.1	15.5
5	33,691	2002	5.93	2.1	16.98	0	0.80	0.45	0.60	0.30	5.00	39.5	11.9
6	2,930	28	6.18	4.5	40.61	0	0.80	0.83	0.83	0.37	5.29	33.5	12.1
Islands
1	8,837	122	6.05	19.0	28.56	0	0.58	0.47	0.74	0.37	5.68	49.0	12.9
2	8,702	96	3.22	8.3	28.58	0	0.78	0.72	0.78	0.47	5.14	41.7	12.2

* Data based on administrative statistics (2005–2006)
** Proportion (%) of respondents with high score is shown for social capital for organizational membership, social trust, fairness, and helpfulness. Average score is shown for confidence in organizations. Data based on 544 respondents to a questionnaire survey in 2009
*** Aggregated mean suicide rate for 2003–2007, based on administrative statistics

ISSN: 1347-4715