SDG #3 and #5 compare and contrast Singapore and America

    In school I have an important class called SDGs and you. In this class we are learning about SDGs which are the sustainable development goals. Currently our teacher has encouraged me and my class to compare two different countries on SDG #3 or #5. I have chosen to compare Singapore and the United States of America on SDG #3 and #5. I am focusing on how the media affects young girls' mental health.

  Over a 40 year study the rates of suicide have increased for young girls.According to Dr. Edith branch-sanchez who wrote a CNN article called Suicide rates in girls are rising, study finds, especially in those age 10 to 14

    ”Although boys were 3.8 times more likely than girls to kill themselves over the 40-year study period, the gap is rapidly narrowing. Starting in 2007, the rates of suicide for girls 10 to 14 increased 12.7% per year, compared with 7.1% for boys the same age. A similar trend was seen for teens 15 to 19, with rates of suicide going up 7.9% for girls and 3.5% for boys.” (Suicide rates in girls are rising, study finds, especially in those age 10 to 14).

    Women’s suicide rates in America have gone up when the media started. “Mental health conditions are common among teens and young adults. 50% of all lifetime mental illnesses develop by age 14 and 75% develop by age 24.” According to Jonathan Haidt who is a social psychologist and the author of The righteous mind . “The number of teenage girls out of 100,000 in this country who were admitted to a hospital every year because they cut themselves or otherwise harmed themselves, that number was pretty stable until around 210, 2011, and then it begins going way up.” (Haidt) The number of preteens that were admitted to a hospital every year in 2009 has nearly tripled. In this graph you can see that the percentage has gone up 189% for preteen girls which is really bad.

    Luckily there are already some improvements being made in America to help fix how America shows women in the media. There is a show called Burka avenger which is an improvement to the way America shows women on TV. Burka Avenger is a great start to help improve gender equality. Burka Avenger helps because she is not an over sexualized cartoon like cat woman or wonder woman. Burka is a great start to show young girls because they do not over sexualize their women like most media does.

    Another way America is trying to improve gender equality is the Chicago women’s health center. The Chicago women's health center’s mission is to facilitate the empowerment of women, trans women, and young people by providing healthcare and education. They do this in a respectful environment and help them out with paying for it. This is really helpful because they are supporting women with education. There is a movie called miss representation talking about women’s mental health and the gender pay gap. This is a huge start because a lot of people in America did not know that this was an issue. By pointing this issue out there is now an SDG for gender equality.

    In Singapore men are more likely to commit suicide than women are. However, young women’s suicide rates have gone up in 2017. Even though the suicide rates are going down the amount of women that killed themselves in 2017 has increased. In Singapore women are encouraged to be in the “formal” workplace which is usually at home.






In this graph you can see the suicide cases decreasing.


    Girls are still less likely to kill themselves in Singapore. There are about 5.6 million people in Singapore. This just shows that they’re doing something right to fix SDG #3. In Singapore they have universal health care coverage. They have a lot of resources for this and they give the right to choose if women should or should not have an abortion. This shows that Singapore is fixing SDG #3 already by having universal health care.




works cited:


Bracho-Sanchez, Dr. Edith. “Suicide Rates in Girls Are Rising, Study Finds, Especially in Those Age 10 to 14.” CNN, Cable News Network, 20 May 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/05/17/health/suicide-rates-young-girls-study/index.html.

Burke, AW., et al. “Race, Religion and Female Suicide Attempters in Singapore.” Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, Springer-Verlag, 1 Jan. 1976, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF01787823.

    As you can see in the United states women’s suicide rates have constantly been increasing. In 2010 Instagram started. If you can see the graph above after 2009 young girls suicide rates have gone up. In 2011 SnapChat started which is another social media. Suicide rates have only gone up since them for young girls in the U.S. In Singapore a young boy is more likely to kill themselves then a young girl.

In america and Singapore both female suicide rates have gone up. In Singapore even though the suicide rates weren’t high to begin with Both countries are very well developed countries. Both of these countries have a lot of people in them and yet one is doing better than the other.

    In Singapore the suicide rates are decreasing in general while in America they are increasing. Singapore seems to have SDG #3 under control While America does not. Even though these countries vary in size that does not mean that America can’t have it under control. In Singapore more women go to universities which I think has a great effect on it’s countries mental health a lot.

    In America they are showing Burka avenger. This doesn’t mean every country in the whole world should broadcast burka avenger. Instead there should be more media showing women that aren’t over sexualized. This can help bring down the suicide rates of young girls all over the world. In Singapore They have universal health care. They are also fighting very hard to help the world complete all 17 SDGs. I think these are great ways that both of these countries are solving SDG #1 and #3.