Russia Has Highest Teen Suicide Rates in Europe

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: March 13, 2013 (Issue # 1750)

MOSCOW — Russia has topped Europe in terms of teenage suicides, the Federal Consumer Protection Service said Monday.

“In recent years, the number of suicides and attempted suicides among children has climbed 35-37 percent. Between 1990 and 2010, the number of registered teen suicides in Russia amounted to 800,000,” a statement on the agency’s site read.

According to the consumer rights watchdog, the number of suicides among teenagers in Russia is 19-20 per 100,000 teenagers — a figure which is three times higher than the global average.

According to the agency, it has been established that only 10% of these teenagers genuinely intend to kill themselves, and in all other cases the attempt represents a “cry for help.”

The statement also emphasized the growing role of the Internet and communication technologies in spreading suicidal tendencies among teenagers, citing a growing number of group suicides.

“The scale and the above-mentioned statistics for suicides, primarily among children, due to information distributed on the Internet, raises the issue of threats to Russia’s growing generation and the need to take preventative measures,” the statement says.

In late 2011 the United Nations Children’s Fund published a report ranking Russia third in the world in per capita teenage suicides, behind two other former Soviet republics, Kazakhstan and Belarus.