Kuala Lumpur - Men, and specifically those who were married, made up the majority of suicide cases in Malaysia from July to December 2007, a news report said Wednesday.

Out of the 113 suicides reported in the second half of the year, 82 were men, of whom 41 were married, the official Bernama news agency said, citing figures from the National Suicide Registry.

The remaining 31 cases were committed by women, nine of whom were married.

"Generally, men are more resolute when it comes to committing suicide," the registry's principal investigator, Nor Hayati Ali, said. "Women in a way are not, so much so they could still be saved."

The most common reasons behind a suicide was a crisis with a spouse and financial, legal and job-related problems, she was quoted by Bernama as saying.

The report was the first released by the registry, which was launched in early 2007.

Nor Hayati said the most favoured methods of suicide among Malaysians were hanging, strangulation and suffocation while more than half of the cases occurred in the home.

The report also noted that out of the 113 suicide cases, 95 were Malaysians while three were from Nepal, six were Indonesians and the rest were from the Philippines, Singapore and Myanmar. (dpa)