Grim statistics in Tahiti teenage survey

7:21 pm on 14 June 2018

A survey among teenagers in French Polynesia found that 20 percent of girls and nine percent of boys seriously considered committing suicide in the past year.

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Photo: RNZI Walter Zweifel

Ten percent said they made at least one attempt.

The Global school-based student health survey questioned 2700 students aged between 13 and 17 in 32 schools last year.

The survey found 43 percent of them are overweight and 20 percent are obese while about 10 percent went hungry because of a lack of food.

More than 70 percent said they ate fruit and vegetables at least once a day.

Almost half of those surveyed said they had consumed alcohol at least once in the past month.

And almost 40 percent said they had had sex, a third of them before turning 14.