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The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

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Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#31
post #13

For comparison, here are a few of the highest rates per 100k in the US: 98.7 - Kusilvak Census Area, AK; 75.1 - Nome Census Area, AK; 64.2 - Sioux County, ND; 58.9 - Buffalo County, SD; 49.3 - Carbon County, UT https://vizhub.healthdata.org/subnational/usa Extend the list and you see lots of high latitudes, low incomes, remote rural settings, and indigenous American populations (e.g. Yupik and Inupiaq in Alaska, Siou…

>Extend the list and you see lots of high latitudes, low incomes, remote rural settings, and indigenous American populations

Gloomy weather, little opportunity for future economic advancement exacerbated by a government hundreds of miles away made up of people nothing like you making up rules for you that make life harder (rural area generally make money on resource extraction and western government are regulating that more tightly for climate reasons) and it's been this way for generations.

This isn't quite shocked pikachu territory but it should come as no surprise people living like this kill themselves more than the baseline.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#32
post #13

For comparison, here are a few of the highest rates per 100k in the US: 98.7 - Kusilvak Census Area, AK; 75.1 - Nome Census Area, AK; 64.2 - Sioux County, ND; 58.9 - Buffalo County, SD; 49.3 - Carbon County, UT https://vizhub.healthdata.org/subnational/usa Extend the list and you see lots of high latitudes, low incomes, remote rural settings, and indigenous American populations (e.g. Yupik and Inupiaq in Alaska, Siou…

Great link. This is the interactive graphic that should have appeared with the article. Instead of a single narrative, users can explore various scenarios as they read along. Looking at this strictly from a geographic standpoint, for instance, there's something weird going on in North Dakota between Carson County and Sioux County. It really stands out on the map. Alaska also looks quite odd.

"something weird" being the native american population, who have been getting trampled on by Americans for hundreds of years now.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#34
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol loosens your inhibitions and pushes you deeper into the abyss. While you wouldnt have killed yourself sober, the answer might look different after a few bottles. Its the same reason firearms have an influence on the suicide rate. Pulling a trigger is just a lot less of a hurdle then most other methods.

This makes me wonder what the actual rate of suicides are performed under influence compared to completely sober. I have a feeling the latter is extremely rare.

I dont think that is the case either. Alcohol has an influence but like with handguns, there are plenty who manage without both.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#35
If the commonality is that living in these higher latitude zones causes increases in suicide, what happens when/if the Earth hits +4C and the habitable zones become these very same areas? [see map linked below]

There would be obvious confounders, like the despair of knowing that humans decimated the planet's habitability.

https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/climat...

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#36
post #27
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's right. I hate it when people mess up the units like that. When I read that "X's GDP is $Y billion" with no mention of "year" or "annual" I am almost as annoyed as when journalists can't tell the difference between energy and power.

You're technically right, but I don't think I've ever seen GDP quoted as something other than per year, so there's no real ambiguity. The bigger problem is comparing GDP (a flow) to quantities that are stocks (total debt, market cap of X, etc.)

A slightly related problem is GDP vs GDP per capita, which during periods of high immigration or of otherwise rapid population growth can paint quite different pictures.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#37
Based on my anecdotal evidence, the major factors that seems to affect regions with high suicide rates are:

- Isolation/ lack of community connection: Isolated individuals tend to have less social feedback loops, which impacts their perception of the world around them.

- Alcohol and Drug abuse: This can be a byproduct of other areas, as an attempt to help alleviate the perceived suffering, boredom, etc. In my opinion, in the long run, alcohol and drug abuse tend to exacerbate the issue.

- Lack of Vitamin D and Sun: A lack in this areas has been associated with increased bouts and feeling of depression, which can increase thoughts of suicide.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#38

Anecdotally, I've heard Scandinavia has a similarly high rate, for the same reason.

> Anecdotally, I've heard Scandinavia has a similarly high rate, for the same reason.

Why are you posting your anecdotes like this? You have access to the internet after all:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_r...

For example, on that list the US rates _worse_ than Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and are about the same as Finland.

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#39
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great link. This is the interactive graphic that should have appeared with the article. Instead of a single narrative, users can explore various scenarios as they read along. Looking at this strictly from a geographic standpoint, for instance, there's something weird going on in North Dakota between Carson County and Sioux County. It really stands out on the map. Alaska also looks quite odd.

"something weird" being the native american population, who have been getting trampled on by Americans for hundreds of years now.

Not sure why this is being downvoted? Clearly these people have no idea about the Plains Wars, Custer's Last Stand and Wounded Knee. They have absolutely been trampled on and worse (murdered).

Re: The Highest Suicide Rate in the World

#40
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess Lithuania has he same problem as all the Nordics, dark gloomy weather year round. I wanted to emigrate to Sweden due to the high quality of life but the dark, drizzly, windy weather really put me off and some locals I talked to said they were really depressed by it and were either trying to emigrate or work remotely from Southern Europe. In the Blatics it's probably worse as the economic situational is not po…

We have quite nice summers actually here in Lithuania while they become quite hot recently because of climate change. Anyway, weather is not the main cause of suicides.

> Anyway, weather is not the main cause of suicides.

What is the main reason then?

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