[Comrade Ogilvy]

Countries with the highest suicide rates in the world
Rank Country Suicides per 100,000 inhabitants per year

1 Lithuania 42.0
2 Russia 37.4
3 Belarus 35.0
4 Latvia 34.3
5 Estonia 33.2
6 Hungary 32.1
7 Slovenia 30.9
8 Ukraine 29.4
9 Kazakhstan 28.7
10 Finland 24.3


SORCE: http://www.aneki.com/suicide.html

[Sandino]

It would be interesting to compare these suicide rates with the rates before the collapse of the USSR.

[Sandino]

Well, at least according to this site, the suicide rate for age 15-19 went from 12.5 to 23 per 100,000 from 1989 to 2000. Apparently the suicide rate for this group almost doubled.

The wonders of the "free" market...

[ahab]

I wouldn't blame free market, look at older free market countries, it is much lower and probably inline with the the established socialist markets, I'm blaming the people that think "oh lets change over AGAIN"

[Siberian Fox]

I think the point being made here ahab is the people who have seen both sides don't like what they're seeing insofar as the "free" market is concerned. Looking at established Western countries is no comparison since capitalism is all people there know. What would be interesting for comparison would be to see the suicide rates before and after a socialist revolution - but I suspect no such data exists.

[briansmith]

The concept of having 70+ years of normalcy and all that you've known being thrown out the window by what appears to be a bunch of pimply-faced kids being led around by some old loon (see: Solidarity movement in Poland) might lead somebody to be a little bit suicidal if they actually had a nice life under Communism. Just a thought, though.

[Putinist]

|PROMETHEUS| wrote,

Ex-socialist states stand in top ranks on the suicide issue

Sandino also wrote,

It would be interesting to compare these suicide rates with the rates before the collapse of the USSR.

"Ex-socialist states"?! "The collapse of the Soviet Union"?! Where have you been the past month?

____________________________________________________


TSaler,

The concept of having 70+ years of normalcy and all that you've known being thrown out the window by what appears to be a bunch of pimply-faced kids being led around by some old loon (see: Solidarity movement in Poland) might lead somebody to be a little bit suicidal if they actually had a nice life under Communism. Just a thought, though.

That "old loon", a man whom I once despised, was secretly a Leninist Kremlin-controlled communist. The disgruntled trade unionists and labourers he led though were genuine. "Solidarity" was planned for Poland at about the same time as the 1968 Czechoslovak experiment in "democracy". He has also since publicly shaved off his infamous "walrus" moustache.

[Tovarish Spetsnaz]

"Ex-socialist states"?! "The collapse of the Soviet Union"?! Where have you been the past month?

Do you have to do this at every fucking post???


And keep in mind that 12.5 per 100.000 was in 1989...not exactly socialist USSR anymore. You would need to get data from the 50s, 60s and 70s for it to be more accurate...And they were of course, considerably lower.

[ZoltanVarga]

The suicide rates of nations not necessarily to do with economic performance, although they obviously have a significant impact. There is psychological reasons at work here too.

To elaborate there is strong evidence to suggest that in countries where there is a strong sense of community and solidarity amongst the population there is going to be a lower suicide rate than countries which lack community, where individualism is rampant. An example being is of Protestant countries having a higher suicide rate than that of Catholic countries. The reason for this is that, such as the nature of the two denominations, Protestantism encourages individualism whereas Catholicism fosters a strong sense of community. Where there lacks community individuals who who are perhaps having a hard time of it may feel more insecure and lonely and may be driven to commit such an extreme act as suicide.

Relating this to the figures of suicide rates in countries which formerly practiced scientific Socialism(or state capitalism, depending on your viewpoint) there has been a loss of community and solidarity amongst the populations of these countries since the introduction of "free" market capitalism. Those members of these countries who feel deseperate are then increasingly likely to commit suicide.

Not only, as Siberian Fox and Sandino said, would it be interesting to compare data before, during and after Socialism, but it would also be interesting to compare data of suicide rates between capitalist countries and Socialist countries during the Cold War!