Abstract

To determine whether the relative levels of suicide rates among the 22 developed countries were consistent over time 1974-76 v 2000-02 and to compare Durkheim's 11 European countries 1874-78 with their modern counterparts, including the 1984-86 period associated with the European recession. Data from the WHO of All Age “General Population Suicide Rates” (GPSR) by sex were calculated to obtain 3-year averages for the end-points. To determine the consistency of the levels of suicides a series of Spearman Rank Order correlations are calculated for each period. Highly significant correlations are found for men, women and total suicide rates between 1974-76 and 1998-2000, and for the Durkheim countries for the three review periods, indicating despite within-national variations over time, the relative rates between countries was consistent. This consistency suggests a certain national “suicide tradition” based on a complex interaction between cultural, sociological, recording/administrative, and genetic factors.