KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 17 (Sin Chew Daily) — Chinese Malaysians top the list of suicide, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Of the 2,426 suicide cases reported from 2018 to July 31 this year, 807 involved the Chinese, followed by 462 Indians and 362 Malays, while 19 were unidentified.

Men made up 83.68% (2,030) of the suicide cases whereas only 16.32% (396) involved women, Ismail said in a written reply to Fuziah Salleh, Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s Member of Parliament for Kuantan.

Emotional stress (27.99%) was cited as the main cause for 679 people who committed suicide, followed by 385 or 15.87% who faced financial problems.

1,358 of those committing suicide were aged between 19 and 40, followed by 960 who were over the age of 40.

Selangor recorded the highest number of suicide cases with a total of 442 cases, followed by Johor (375), Penang (270), Kuala Lumpur (266), Perak (224), Sarawak (159), Sabah (145), Negeri Sembilan (137), Pahang (122), Kedah (111), Melaka (74), Kelantan (61), Terengganu (36) and Perlis (4).