Abstract
SUICIDE RATES.—The relation of suicide to climatic and racial factors, and to industrialism, occupation, urban conditions, age, and sex, etc., is the subject of an extensive statistical analysis by Dr. J. R. Miner (American Journal of Hygiene, Monographic Series, No. 2). It has long been recognised that the suicide rate is higher among the Nordic race than among Alpine or Mediterranean peoples. Mixed peoples usually have a higher rate than either of the pure races to which they belong. Foreigners in New York show a higher suicide rate than in the countries from which they came. The lowest rate is found in Ireland and the highest in Saxony, while the rate varies in different parts of France according to the racial composition of the population. Among Asiatic peoples, the Japanese and Chinese rates are high, while in India it is low (4–8 per 100,000). India appears to be the only country where female suicides exceed the male. The general trend of suicide rates has been upward during the last century, but the higher rates tend to become stabilised. A sharp decline took place during the war. Germany, France, Denmark and Sweden have high rates, Britain, Norway and the Netherlands low rates, as well as southern and eastern Europe. In the United States the rates are lowest in the south and highest in the west. The fundamental causes of these differences are found to be probably in (1) differences in the strength of the group spirit, (2) adverse economic conditions, (3) racial factors, (4) general health of the population.
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Research Items. Nature 111, 28–29 (1923). https://doi.org/10.1038/111028a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/111028a0