The development of suicides in the Scandinavian and post-Soviet Baltic countries in a postindustrial-country context
Keywords:
suicides, anomie, social pathology, Scandinavia, Baltic Sea Area, Baltic States, Postindustrial society, OECDAbstract
A review of developmental trends in the suicide rate in the Baltic region and the OECD countries from the 1960s until the present is the focus of this article. The developmental trends are grouped into three typical clusters: the first cluster, distinguished by the highest suicide rates, comprises the former Soviet countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Russia; the second, the Scandinavian countries as an OECD subgroup with relatively high suicide rates in regard to the OECD average; and the third the postindustrial OECD countries as a whole, distinguished by a lower suicide level than in the previous clusters, but significantly exceeding the “third” world average. It is argued that the post-Soviet Baltic and Scandinavian model of suicide development can be explained by Durkheim’s classical suicide theory. However, explaining the postindustrial type of suicide tendencies requires acceptance of a long-lasting anomie model for the prediction of suicide rates. The discussion of long-lasting anomie features and their relation to the suicide rate is presented. The conclusion is that there are preconditions and empirical evidence for predicting the process of a declining suicide rate in the groups of the countries investigated.
