The incidence of youth suicide has increased dramatically among the Inuit in Greenland since modernization started in the 1950s. Suicide currently peaks in the age group, 15-24 years. Suicide ideation occurs more often in young people who grew up in homes with a poor emotional environment, alcohol problems, & violence. There is a definite correlation with several aspects of the modernization process but it is hard to pinpoint causal relationships. It is rather the “modernization package” that should be regarded as risk factors for suicide. (28 refs)