Aging villagers face hardships, choose suicide  

小村庄里老人接连自杀 当地老人:这是解脱方式

病痛的折磨、生活保障不足、精神孤独和家庭矛盾是造成益阳市桃江县崆峒村老人自杀的主因。而更令当地村民忧心的是，这个自杀“黑洞”正向自己的亲人靠近。调查中，多名老人明确表态，愿意选择自杀结束自己的一生。[查看全文]

(ECNS) – A community in a village of Taojiang county, Central China's Hunan province, has witnessed five suicides of its older citizens in eight years, according to voc.com.cn.

Yang Qingyuan said 10 people have passed away in the community, which has 30 families with 130 residents, since 2005, and half of them ended their own lives.

Mo Qiulian, 67, has had lingering thoughts of suicide since she suffered a stroke in March and was unable to work. Her husband stopped her several times, but their earnings and allowance from the government can barely sustain their lives and Mo's medical costs.

Yang believes the people who committed suicide did the "right" thing, and half of older residents in the community agreed. "It can not only relieve themselves from illness and suffering, but also lift their children's burden," Yang said.

However, the older people choose to commit suicide only when they are confronted with situations such as turning 70, poor economic conditions, loss of ability to take care of themselves, and incurable illness, Yang added.

In Yang's community, illness, lack of subsistence guarantees, loneliness, and family conflicts make up the main causes for suicides.

Gao Qing said if better medical insurance and conditions were provided, her father-in-law would not have committed suicide.

Deng Pengke, a deputy secretary at the village, said even if aging residents receive medical insurance, they still have trouble obtaining enough allowance.

Moreover, only four or five of the 30 older residents in the community had pensions of 55 yuan per month, and the rest had to depend on their children or odd jobs.

Ninety percent of older people in the village don.t live with their children, with 70 percent living alone.

An official at the village said he hoped the government will pay more attention to aging people in rural areas and improve their social security situation.