Top 10 suicide countries

[Sky earth]

Suicides per 100,000 people per year

Rank Country Average
1 Greenland 108,1 :shocked:
2 South Korea 31,7
3 Lithuania 31,6
4 Guyana 26,4
5 Kazakhstan 25,6
6 Belarus 22,9
7 China 22,23
8 Slovenia 21,8
9 Hungary 21,7
10 Japan 21,7

What could be the reasons that so many Greenlanders ( Inuits) commit suicide? Are the economics and human rights so bad in this country?

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

[Shah-Jehan]

The cold weather could be the cause for Greenlanders, winter there is pretty long so people fall in depair probably and become upset...Lack of activity maybe...

[Atlantic Islander]

What could be the reason that so many Greenlanders ( Inuits) commit suicide? Are the economics and human rights so bad in this country?

According to this article (http://healthland.time.com/2011/04/25/why-the-happiest-states-have-the-highest-suicide-rates/), the happier the country, the more suicidal. Who knows?

[Graham]

Seasonal affective disorder possibly for Greenland. No sunlight in winter.

[Sky earth]

The cold weather could be the cause for Greenlanders, winter there is pretty long so people fall in depair probably and become upset...Lack of activity maybe...

Greenland is so amazingly beautiful! I would do anything to travel there someday. I can't understand that so many people commit suicide, when they have such a beautiful landscape in their environment. I'm also surprised that so many people kill themselves in a high progressive and economically successful country like South Korea.

[Atlantic Islander]

Greenland is so amazingly beautiful! I would do anything to travel there someday. I can't understand that so many people commit suicide, when they have such a beautiful landscape in their environment. I'm also surprised that so many people kill themselves in ahigh progressive and economically successful country like South Korea.

A lot South Korean celebrities commit suicide as well, I remember reading an article about it - it had something to do with the pressure to be perfect. I'll have to try and find the article.

Edit: Not the article I read, but here's an article from The Wall Street Journal. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704684604575382213752379230.html)

[Humanophage]

High suicide rates seem to be common among North Asians. Russia's North Asian territories are the equivalent of Greenland, and have equally high rates. For example, the Nenets area had a suicide rate of 119.2 a couple of years ago. The Chukchi area had ~90 for the last several years. Alaskan natives also have unusually high suicide rates, though not on par with Greenland and Russian North Asians.

Part of it is that the population is very small (55k for Greenland, 42k for Nenets, 50k for Chukchi, etc.) So spikes in suicide look huge, even though the number of suicides isn't that great. For Greenland, 108 suicides per 100 000 people means that about 60 suicides happened. But for Lithuania to reach a similar figure, it would need 3 000 suicides a year.

[Ivan Kramskoï]

Guyana seems aliens in this top !!!
I thought the suicide rate near equator were very low.

[robar]

Mongols are suicidal:)

[Caismeachd]

Are the inuits heavy drinkers? I doubt it anyways. Maybe their traditional means of living don't measure up with western expectations and they feel they don't belong and can never catch up. Similar to Native American indians and other aboriginal people.

[Sky earth]

I think that Mongoloids have anything on their genes that makes them more suicidal than other races. It's not a coincidence that we have 5 predominantly Mongoloid countries (Greenland, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Guyana?, China and Japan) in the top 10 suicide countries.

[Herbalist]

The cold weather could be the cause for Greenlanders, winter there is pretty long so people fall in depair probably and become upset...Lack of activity maybe...

No, it's cultural loss, much like the high suicide rate among the Inuit in Canada (most Greenlanders are Inuit).

[RussiaPrussia]

What could be the reasons that so many Greenlanders ( Inuits) commit suicide? Are the economics and human rights so bad in this country?

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

ask the koreans and japanese

[Sky earth]

ask the koreans and japanese

Japan and South Korea have both a high HDI and are very progressive, economically successful states. These two countries should have actually low suicide rates but both are in the top 10. It must have something to do with genetics. Mongoloid peoples are more threatened to commit suicide than Caucasoids and Negroids.

[KrashNick]

I am wondering why Slovenia and Japan are in the list .

[sevruk]

It must have something to do with genetics. Mongoloid peoples are more threatened to commit suicide than Caucasoids and Negroids.

Lithuanians are one of most Caucasoid-looking peoples, but they have one of the highest suicide rates.

[Roy]

People from Grenland may suffer from alcoholism. They metabolize it much worse than us so it could be a reason.

[Pontios]

1 in a thousand people commits suicide in Greenland. That's just crazyyy! :eek:

[Temujin]

There's a no simple equation as a more successful country, therefore there should be lower suicide rate. In some poor countries people would hold on to their dear lives, while in others more prosperous and stable countries people would take their lives more easily because of depression or socio-economic pressure.

[Permafrost]

I am wondering why Slovenia and Japan are in the list .

Alcoholism in eastern Slovenia, mainly (often low quality wine, perhaps methyl alcohol).

Plus Slovenes have a natural proclivity towards melancholy, introspection and philosophy, hence ostensibly mundane and irrelevant things may burden them greatly.

As for the Japanese, mentality is one of many factors. They live in heavily collectivistic societies and tend to put the need of others before their own; this can go into extremes such as blaming oneself for others misdeeds.

[Trun]

I am wondering why Slovenia and Japan are in the list .

For Japan it isn't surprising at all. People there are perfectionists. For them being fired from your job is enough to commit suicide.

[Szegedist]

Its very sad for me that Hungary is on the list.

[Dessy]

For Japan it isn't surprising at all. People there are perfectionists. For them being fired from your job is enough to commit suicide.

Yeah :( heard about that too.

[Dombra]

I thought meant countries bent on suicide like Sweden and France

[Dandelion]

Suicides per 100,000 people per year

Rank Country Average
1 Greenland 108,1 :shocked:
2 South Korea 31,7
3 Lithuania 31,6
4 Guyana 26,4
5 Kazakhstan 25,6
6 Belarus 22,9
7 China 22,23
8 Slovenia 21,8
9 Hungary 21,7
10 Japan 21,7

What could be the reasons that so many Greenlanders ( Inuits) commit suicide? Are the economics and human rights so bad in this country?

For more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

Greenland has too small of a population to make such statistics work, still it's a lot. It means that 50 Greenlanders commit suicide each year on average.