Suicide as an Indicator of the Public Mental Health in Ukraine (Including Period of Covid-19)

Abstract

The aim: This article aims to analyze the rates of suicide as an indicator of public mental health, to consider the suicidal map of the territory of Ukraine (including to check the manifestation of such a territorial characteristic as the Albanian paradox); calculate the price of suicide for the socio-economic development of the Ukrainian state, consider the risks of suicide that have arisen as social and criminological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and methods: The study is based on the analytical materials of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the WHO; the information and analytical data of the General Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and sectoral statistics for the period of 2015-2019, etc. The article is based on dialectical, analytical, synthetic, comparative, statistical, cartographic, and sociological methods of research and the method of potential demography. The theoretical basis of the article is specialized literature on medicine, suicidology, law, sociology, and cartography. Results: In Ukraine, the death rate from suicide in recent years averages 1.1% of the total number of deaths. The rate of suicide decline in Ukraine has slowed significantly over the past five years, which is an alarming symptom. There are almost strict proportions between male and female suicide (men commit four out of five suicides). The level of self-harm per 100,000 population of Ukraine remains almost stable, indicating a severe demographic crisis in Ukraine. Women in Ukraine are less likely to commit suicide than in European countries. In Ukraine in recent years, contrary to European trends, suicide has dominated among the elderly aged 65+. The number of years of potential life loss for male and female suicides in Ukraine is 103 thousand, and the number of working years is almost 100 thousand. The losses for Ukraine from the unlived life of those who died as a result of suicide in 2019 are almost USD 341 billion. Conclusions: In 2019, suicides accounted for almost 21% of deaths from external causes among Ukraine's population. The most intense suicidal situation is observed in the central part of the country's geographical map along the imaginary vertical axis “North-South” (Kherson, Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhia, Kirovohrad, Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv regions). During the COVID-19 pandemic, many additional factors increase the risk of suicide among individuals who are at heightened risk of suicide or are actively suicidal, and among the general population.

Post-Covid Suicide: Forensic Science Analysis

“…Since December 2019, the world has been affected by gradual (and sometimes abrupt) changes in public life related to the SARS-Cov-2 virus pandemic and the introduction of state measures to stop its spread. This situation also affects those who are prone to suicide [1]. So there is a group of scientists who associate suicide because of COVID-19 not with medical reasons but with social problems caused by it, such as financial strain, lockdown, quarantine, unemployment or loss of economic independence, disability.…”

The association of social capital and mental well‐being among older residents living in public housing in Macau Special Administrative Region (S.A.R.) – A qualitative case study of Seac Pai Van

“…Moreover, suicidal thoughts or attempts are widely recognized as important indicators of mental health due to their established association with various mental health conditions, while they are also a generally accepted indicator for public mental health (Batyrgareieva et al, 2020).…”

“…Moreover, suicidal thoughts or attempts are widely recognized as important indicators of mental health due to their established association with various mental health conditions, while they are also a generally accepted indicator for public mental health (Batyrgareieva et al., 2020). A recent study conducted in rural China examined the link between suicide and loneliness and found that loneliness can help detect older adults who are at risk of committing suicide and therefore suggest building stronger social support systems (Niu et al., 2020).…”