Economic development, change of age distribution, and stream analogy of homicide and suicide: a cross-national assessment.

The current study tests the stream analogy of lethal violence, proposed by Unnithan et al. on a large sample of 124 nations. Spatial econometric regression models confirm that economic development decreases homicide rate and increases suicideÐhomicide ratio (SHR). The SHR developed by Unnithan et al. accounts for the impact of economic development better than original measure of suicide rate. The most important finding of the current investigation is that the increase in the population size of the elderly, consequent to economic development, is partially responsible for elevated suicide rates and SHRs.