Using an unlinked cross-sectional study using data drawn from 4 time points, the occurrence of suicide in urban & rural regions of Belarus in the post-Soviet period was examined. Between 1990 & 2000, the suicide rate rose sharply in Belarus, starting to reduce after 2000 but still remaining much higher in 2005 than its initial level. The same was true for urban & rural suicide rates & for male suicide rates in all regions combined. After 1995, there was a divergence in gender-specific rates in urban & rural areas. There may be factors that are specific to rural locations, such as increasing social isolation & poor provision of medical services, that account for the extreme suicide rates now being recorded. (27 refs.)