WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao does have statistics on deaths by suicide, but the information is scattered among different institutions and the figures do not always correspond, according to psychiatrist Gabriel Rendon, Medical Director of Klinika Capriles. Based on data he examined for 2021, Curaçao recorded an estimated suicide mortality rate of approximately 6.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
Rendon says the problem is therefore not that Curaçao has no suicide statistics, but that there is no centralized system bringing all relevant information together.
The Epidemiology Department collects information from death certificates, while the forensic physician maintains a separate registration. Klinika Capriles and other healthcare institutions also collect their own data.
“Each institution has its own data,” Rendon said.
There is currently no system under which all information concerning suicide is automatically reported to one central authority. As a result, Curaçao lacks a comprehensive island-wide database that could be used to identify trends and measure whether suicide prevention policies are working.
Different Registrations Produce Different Figures
Rendon has spent several years comparing different sources, including figures from the Epidemiology Department and the forensic physician.
The registrations do not always produce exactly the same results. Rendon said the differences are generally small, although there was at least one year in which the discrepancy between the two sources was significant.
The possibility of underreporting also cannot be completely excluded.
Some deaths may not always be classified as suicide, particularly when there is uncertainty about intent or when stigma plays a role. Rendon cautioned, however, that it is difficult to determine retrospectively whether this has occurred.
Other deaths are classified as external causes with undetermined intent. Some suicides could potentially be included in that category, although Rendon said there is insufficient evidence to establish this.
For 2021, the data examined by Rendon produced an estimated suicide mortality rate of 6.2 per 100,000 inhabitants.
That was below the comparison figure he used for the Region of the Americas, approximately 9.2 per 100,000, and a global figure of around 8.9 per 100,000.
The Curaçao data also show a substantial difference between men and women. Approximately six times as many men as women die by suicide.
According to Rendon, this is consistent with the international pattern in which men are more likely to die by suicide, while suicide attempts are more frequently recorded among women.
For the period from 2008 through 2017, suicide ranked fifth among external causes of death in Curaçao, based on the figures used by Rendon. Among young people between the ages of 15 and 24, suicide ranked third.
External causes of death refer to deaths resulting from circumstances other than disease and include traffic accidents, violence and suicide.
Suicide Attempts Largely Missing From Statistics
The information gap is considerably larger when it comes to people who survive a suicide attempt.
According to Rendon, Curaçao has no centralized registration of suicide attempts.
Hospitals and healthcare providers may record an attempt as a diagnosis, but that information is not systematically collected and shared through a single database. It is therefore impossible to reliably determine how many people attempt suicide in Curaçao each year.
Rendon believes this information is particularly important for prevention because mortality statistics represent only part of the problem. A potentially much larger group could be reached with assistance before a crisis becomes fatal.
Klinika Capriles, together with the Ministry of Health, Environment and Nature (GMN), the Dutch Caribbean Mental Health Federation, the University of Waterloo and interRAI, participated in an international pilot using a questionnaire covering mental health, sleep, alcohol consumption, quality of life and suicidal thoughts.
Among an initial group of approximately 100 people from the Klinika Capriles patient population, 45 percent reported having experienced suicidal thoughts at some point, while approximately 30 percent reported having attempted suicide.
Rendon stressed that the group is not representative of Curaçao’s general population and that the percentages cannot be extrapolated to the entire island.
The new National Suicide Prevention Policy Framework Curaçao 2026–2030, Biba Bida, could provide an opportunity to address the fragmented registration system.
According to Rendon, doing so will require funding for better data collection, prevention programs and more accessible care, as well as greater cooperation and information sharing among institutions.
Without reliable and centralized information, Curaçao will continue to face difficulties determining the true scale of the problem and measuring whether prevention efforts are producing results.