Suicide fifth main cause of female deaths

Suicide was one of the leading causes of death for women in 2008, with 18.7 deaths for every 100,000 women, a government report said Thursday.

A report by the Finance Ministry and Statistics Korea showed cancer, which caused 101.9 deaths for every group of 100,000, as the leading cause of death followed by cerebrovascular disorders and heart diseases, which were responsible for 58.3 and 43.6 deaths each. 

A total of 18.7 out of every 100,000 women comitted suicide making it the fifth biggest killer after diabetes, which was responsible for 20.5 deaths per 100,000 women.

Deaths from various illness-related causes accounted for more than half of all deaths but suicide was a bigger cause than high blood pressure-related diseases or car accidents which accounted for 12.7 and 7.7 deaths per 100,000 respectively.