Global suicide report reveals where rates are highest… as US makes shocking entry

The United States has the sixth highest suicide rate in the world, a grim ranking that comes amid a continuing rise in suicide numbers over the past three decades.

Listed in the world rankings by the international prescription service Universal Drugstore South Korea As something to have Highest Rate Croatia and Australia are tied for first place in terms of suicide rates for both men and women. Number 10 spot.

Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S. The suicide rate increased by 16% from 2011 to 2022, with the highest suicide rate ever reported in 2022. Suicides hit record high of 49,369.

The U.S. suicide rate is 14.1 per 100,000 people, significantly lower than South Korea’s 24.1 per capita, but significantly higher than Australia and Croatia’s 12.4 per capita.

Across the top 10 countries, men were more likely to commit suicide. In Latvia, men were about eight times more likely to commit suicide than women, the highest ratio of any country on the list. On average, men were about four times more likely to commit suicide than women.

Next to South Korea is Lithuania with a per capita suicide rate of 18.5, followed by Slovenia with 15.7 per capita.

Slovenia is followed by Japan with 15.4 deaths per 100,000 people, and Hungary with 14.8 deaths per 100,000 people.

The United States reported 14.1 suicides per capita, followed by Estonia with a per capita suicide rate of 13.6.

Finland and Latvia ranked eighth and ninth in deaths per capita, with 12.9 and 12.7 respectively.

“South Korea recorded a suicide mortality rate of 24.1 per 100,000 people, followed by Lithuania, Slovenia, Japan and Hungary,” the researchers said.

“These countries are all located in specific geographic regions of East Asia and Eastern Europe, suggesting that cultural influences may play a major role in determining suicide rates.”

They didn’t really explain why the rate is so high, but it likely has to do with the stigma attached to mental health issues and seeking help in the form of therapy or medication.

South Korea and Japan have particularly high educational and workplace pressures, as well as social stigma around mental health, which may contribute to higher suicide rates.

And the former Soviet republics have been experiencing years of economic contraction and social change, leading to financial difficulties and social instability.

And in the United States, not only are rates of depression high, Availability of firearms plays a major role in suicide rates.

US Suicide Rates Tends to be highest in rural areasThis may be because more than 60% of rural Americans live in mental health professional shortage areas, while more than 90% of psychologists and psychiatrists and more than 80% of social workers practice exclusively in urban areas.

Mental illness has reached epidemic levels worldwide, with approximately 280 million people worldwide suffering from depression, including 5% of adults and 5.7% of adults aged 60 years or older.

According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans diagnosed with depression has reached 29 percent, up nearly 10 percentage points since 2015.

Although men are more likely to commit suicide, women are more likely to suffer from depression: 37% of women are diagnosed with depression compared to 20% of men.

Dr. Sarah Lipson, a professor of health policy at Boston University and lead researcher of the Healthy Minds Study, the largest and most comprehensive study of mental health in higher education, said there are a number of reasons why suicides are at an all-time high.

She said: “Some of the same reasons we are seeing increased rates of depression, anxiety and other disorders are also likely risk factors for suicide, including economic stress, uncertainty about the economy, the job market and sociopolitical factors, and loneliness, which has changed dramatically over the past century, even excluding the pandemic year.”

Suicide and depression rates have also risen worryingly among young people and children, a trend that has been particularly exacerbated during the pandemic as people have been forced to isolate from friends and family.

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She added, “Then there’s the issue of means: how people die by suicide in this country. You can’t talk about suicide and suicide prevention without talking about gun control laws. Most suicide deaths are caused by firearms, and reducing access to guns is an important way to prevent people from killing themselves.”

Nearly half of parents said the pandemic has had a negative impact on their children’s mental health, including 17 percent who said it has had a “major negative impact,” according to a CNN/Kaiser Family Foundation survey.

According to a CDC report examining youth mental health trends from 2011 to 2021, 13% of high school girls have attempted suicide and 30% have seriously considered suicide. For LGBTQ+ teens, that number is over 20%, with 45% saying they have seriously considered suicide.