Perilous
Times
800,000 Russians committed suicide since Soviet Union
collapsed
About 800,000 Russians committed suicide in the 20 years following
the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to new statistics -
more than one ever 15 minutes in a country with a population of
142.9 million.
By Howard Amos in Moscow
4:58PM BST 21 Oct 2011
The Telegraph UK
Although the rate has fallen from a peak of 42 suicides for every
100,000 people during the social and economic turbulence of the
early 1990s, it was 23.5 per 100,000 in 2010.
The average age of Russians who kill themselves is 43 for men and
52 for women. Men are six times more likely to kill themselves
than women.
A recent study by the Moscow-based Public Opinion Fund showed that
almost a quarter of Russians, 23 per cent, "often" thought about
death. It linked morbid propensities to education, religion,
location and how many children one has.
Lower rates of suicide were recorded in big cities such as Moscow
as well as the Northern Caucasus, where there is a large Muslim
population. Above average rates were recorded in Siberia and
Russia's far eastern regions.
The levels are one factor feeding into Russia's demographic
decline, which Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, has described
as a "catastrophe".
In 1992 more Russians died than were born for the first time since
the Second World War. Census figures shows that between 2002 and
2010, the country's population fell by 1.6 per cent.