I heard once: "The healthy human mind doesn't wake in the morning thinking it is it's last day on earth, that a luxury, not a curse." I think it isn't always right.
People are made from their culture, the influence they had, their experiences. In Japan some situations are considered worst than dead ,unemployment and social pressure are good examples. It all depends in the way that culture or the media (in the case of the West) sees suicide, sometimes as a coward act, sometimes as a valiant one. The religious point of view it's quite tedious of talking. Some people's mind aren't strong enough to bear some situations of their lives and I can't blame them for putting end to a situation their consider humilliating or painfull.