Suicide Among Russians in Estonia: Database Study Before and After Independence

The authors examined how the radical change in sociopolitical status of the Russian minority in Estonia following the dissolution of the Soviet Union affected the rate of suicide. They found that during the Soviet period the suicide rate among the Russian minority in Estonia was lower than the rate in native Estonians. However, when Russians changed from a privileged to a non-privileged minority in independent Estonia, their rate of suicide became significantly higher than that of native Estonians and of Russians in Russia. (5 refs)