Why are Suicides so High in the Wealthiest Country in the World?

Rachel Alexander
Oct 27, 2011

Although the U.S. is the wealthiest country in the world, our suicide rate is the 39th highest in the world. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_co ... icide_rate Last year, 35,000 adults in the U.S. committed suicide. A new report http://www.cdc.gov/ViolencePrevention/s ... ughts.html by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 1 in 100 adults planned to commit suicide in the past year, a total of 2.2 million adults. Of those, young adults ages 18-29 and women were more prone to suicidal thoughts and behavior. The number of Americans contemplating suicide is alarming; for every suicide there are estimates of anywhere from 11 to 25 attempted suicides.

Suicide rates traditionally increase during recessions and decrease during economic booms. Yet even during economic downturns, Americans are better off than most people in third world countries. There is an extensive “safety netâ€