Economic Reform and Mortality in the Former Soviet Union: a Study of the Suicide Epidemic in the 1990s

Male suicide rates in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, & the Baltic countries increased substantially in the early 1990s. Fixed effects regressions across 22 transition economies indicate male suicide rates were highly sensitive to the state of the macroeconomy. Evidence also indicates the general adult male mortality crisis in the region had a feedback effect on suicide rates, with the loss of a spouse or friend or declining life expectancy itself contributing to rising suicide rates. Female rates were insensitive to the macroeconomy & were more strongly related to alcohol consumption. (15 refs.)