4 Aug 2011

Wired on iPhone factories in China

Screen_shot_2011-08-04_at_1

Wired magazine had a sensationalist cover earlier this year:

1 Million Workers. 90 Million iPhones. 17 Suicides. Who’s to Blame?

In the article it says these 17 suicide occurred over the "past half decade" - implying a suicide rate of 3.4 per million people.

According to Wikipedia, throughout China the suicide rate is 66 a tragic people per year per 1M people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

If anything, the numbers would suggest, gadget factories are saving lives.  

(I don't actually think that's the case, but I do think the Wired cover headline is wildly misleading).