PACIFIC ISLAND SUICIDE IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE HEATHER BOOTH Demography Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Summary. All available data for thirteen Pacific Island nations are used in a comparative analysis of suicide levels and characteristics. Age, sex and method of suicide are examined in detail. Global comparison shows Pacific rates are amongst the highest reported. Female youth rates exceed male rates in Western Samoa and amongst Fiji Indians. Method of suicide (paraquat ingestion) is instrumental in determining high rates in Western Samoa, especially in females. The broad causal theme is societal transition. Commonality and diversity are discussed. Introduction The island populations of the Pacific continue to undergo epidemiological and mortality transitions (Taylor, Lewis & Levy, 1989) as a result of development initiatives and exogenous influences. One such transition is manifest in the suicide epidemics that have occurred in several of these populations. Suicide rates began to increase in some populations as early as the 1970s and others have experienced increases since that time. These increases have occurred at young ages, such that for some Pacific Island youth, suicide is a leading cause of death and rates are amongst the highest in the world. To date, Pacific suicide has been studied with respect to individual populations with little attempt to compare experience either regionally or in relation to the rest of the world. This paper provides, for the first time, a comprehensive comparative assessment of suicide in the Pacific region, drawing together a large quantity of disparate information comprising new analysis of published and unpublished data, re-analysis of data from existing studies and published findings. Levels of suicide are compared regionally and globally. Age, sex and method of suicide are examined in detail. The paper provides a regional perspective, identifying both commonality and diversity. The paper covers all Pacific Islands (except Hawaii) for which data are available but necessarily concentrates on those populations where data permit disaggregation. To a large extent, these are also the populations where suicide rates are highest: Western Samoa, the Indian population of Fiji, Guam and a group referred to collectively in this paper as ‘Micronesia’, comprising Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia (Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei and Yap). Table 1 shows background characteristics of all populations. Biosocial Science Article 362 Revise 1st proof 16.8.99 J. biosoc. Sci. (1999) 31, 433–448  1999 Cambridge University Press Printed in the United Kingdom 433