A Further Test of the Finno-Ugrian Suicide Hypothesis: Correspondence of County Suicide Rates in Romania and Population Proportion of Ethnic Hungarians

Across the 42 counties of Romania, the total suicide rate & the population percentage of ethnic Hungarians were strongly positively interrelated. Counties with the strongest Hungarian minority had suicide rates converging to (or exceeding) the suicide rate for Hungary, which is high. Of a set of about 20 vital statistics & socioeconomic indicators, only life expectancy predicted a significant increment of further variance in the suicide rates. However, this effect was small, adding merely 3% further variance explained to the 79% already accounted for. Overall, the findings are supportive of the Finno-Ugarian suicide hypothesis. (46 refs.)