The balcony did it? Why Thailand's falling deaths raise eyebrows

On 3/24/2016 at 7:30 AM, thaihome said:

You do realize you are using a rate with a population base of some 318 million against a base of a few thousand. Might be better if you could compare Pattaya against say some of the high rise retirement homes in Palm Beach. I bet it's even higher in Palm Beach. Some of the buildings there have extended covers at entrance to protect people from the falling bodies.

TH

Another possible flaw in the comparison is that the Thai deaths are falls from apparently only balconies, while the US figure appears to be all falls from anywhere. I'd be interested to know the US figure for balcony only death falls. The number here just seems way way more than anywhere I've lived, and I've lived in some party (read: drunk people) towns with lots of balconies. In other places you'd read of perhaps 1 death by balcony every year or two. Even if these are all suicides, that in itself is a disturbing number.