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Article: Put it down to cultural difference. (World Health Organization report on suicide rates relating to Europe)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- October 5, 1996
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE north-south divide thrives in death as in life. The World Health Organisation's latest statistics on suicide show southern Europe, as usual, lagging behind the north. Sunshine, perhaps, makes life more worth living. The cold and clouds depress.
Compare Finland, the northernmost country in continental Europe, which has a suicide rate of almost 30 per 100,000, with Greece, at a mere 3.5. According to the WHO's global rankings (and remembering that countries have different national standards for establishing a death as suicide), northern European countries took up no fewer than eight of the top ten entries for men committing suicide. Spain, Italy, Greece and Malta, ...