BMJ  2005;330 (22 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7484.0-b

Suicide: nationality matters in Estonia

Since Estonian independence in 1991, Estonian Russians are committing significantly more suicides than Estonians in Estonia and Russians in Russia, although during the Soviet period suicide rates among Estonian Russians were the lowest of these three groups. Värnik and colleagues (p 176) analysed the data provided by the World Health Organization and found that suicide rates increased for all three groups during the transition: by 39% for Estonian Russians, 26% for Russians in Russia, and 17% for native Estonians. They argue that the phenomenon may be the consequence of the Russians becoming a non-privileged minority in Estonia.


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Relevant Article

Suicide among Russians in Estonia: database study before and after independence
Airi Värnik, Kairi Kõlves, and Danuta Wasserman
BMJ 2005 330: 176-177. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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