14 DAY TRIAL // Indeed, it is more catchy to watch the deaths committed by a suicidal terrorist or the crime of a psychopath, while ignoring your neighbor who threw himself from the 9th floor. Anyway, he was old/depressed/alcoholic. But an expert has signaled that, annually, more people commit suicide than are killed in wars, terrorist attacks and homicides.
"There are more than one million people who die by suicide each year in the world, which is more people than those who die from war, terrorist attacks and homicides every year. So more people kill themselves than are killed by other people," said Brian Mishara, the president of the International Association for Suicide Prevention (IASP) and a University of Quebec psychology professor.
Worldwide, suicide levels have boomed by 60 % since the WW II, reaching about 28 male and 7 female suicides per 100 000 people, and the highest increase has been signaled in developing countries.
"Suicide has existed for as long as we have records of human history and occurs among the rich and the poor. Countries that have invested heavily in its prevention have seen their rates drop. In the United States the rates have been going down reasonably and we would like to think that it is because the government has invested in suicide prevention," said Mishara.
In some countries, suicides are neglected because they are sometimes registered as violent murders or accidents.
"The problem is especially tragic because it is largely preventable. Worldwide, more men take their own lives than women do, although a notable exception is in China," said Mishara.
Uruguay, for example, displays one of the highest suicide levels in the Americas, at 24.5 male and 6.4 female suicides per 100 000 people. But the highest values are found in the former Soviet Union, where alcohol "plays an important role in those countries. When the price of vodka spiked, suicide rates dropped. Alcohol or drugs play a role in fully half of all suicides," signaled Mishara.
Official data point that Lithuania has a level of 70.1 male and 14.0 female suicides per 100 000, while Russia of 61.6 and 10.7. But it would be simplistic to blame it just on the alcohol; this is just another factor added to the extreme social changes people are passing through.
"Even though many people have benefited from those changes, many people still feel left behind. People don't kill themselves because they want to die. People kill themselves because they cannot see any hope to feel better in the future," said Mishara.