Suicide mortality among Russian teen: regional and social approach

Russia is consistently among the top three leading European countries of teenage suicide deaths for the last 20 years. Currently, suicide mortality is 30 per 100,000 among Russian boys of 15-19 years old and 8.5 among girls of the same age. There is an extremely high regional variation between minimal and maximal values of the rate: it is close to 90-fold now. To test the hypothesis about the climatic and geographical determinants of teenage suicides we examined the situation in the Central Federal District of Russia. The results permit to make conclusion about the socio-economic determination of suicide among adolescents: currently in Russia climatic and geographical component is not anything significant. Firstly, this is shown by the multiple scatter in mortality among adolescents living in the same regions but in different types of communities (from the minimum levels in the regional centers to maximum levels in rural areas). Secondly, the excessive mortality from suicide among teens is primarily determined by the rural population, so it seems obvious the primacy of socio-economic factors lead to a lack of prospects in life. Thirdly, there is the vector from minimum risks of suicide among university students to maximum risk among unemployed youth.