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Filler One hundred years ago

Suicide in Chicago

BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7350.1376/a (Published 08 June 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:1376

Chicago is said to be gaining an unenviable reputation as the “suicide centre” of the United States. The weekly health reports show that for the week ending May 10th, there were 13 cases of suicide in Chicago, and for the week ending on the 17th, there were 14 cases. According to the Philadelphia Press (which doubts the increase of population claimed since the official census—an increase of 450,425 in less than two years) these figures give a suicide-rate of one in every 3,350 of population. The rate for the whole United States for the year 1901, was one suicide in every 10,750 of population. Therefore Chicago has three times as many suicides in proportion to the population as the country at large. Its rate is higher than that of any other large city in the world. The Chicago authorities say that the suicides are due to influenza, but there does not appear to be such an increase attributable to this cause in other places. The number of suicides in Chicago is more probably due to the severity of the struggle for existence.

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