Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 December 1903 — THE INCREASE IN SUICIDES. [ARTICLE]

THE INCREASE IN SUICIDES.

More Persona, Here end Abroad, Are Yearly Taking Their Lire* t A rapid increase In the number of sulcldee in New York City in proportion to the population is shown by the health department statistics which hare just been public. In 1892 14 perrons took their lives out of every 100,000 inhabitants. In 1902 there were 22 suicides to each 100,000. This rapid increase is in line with a tendency noticeable not only in cities but also in rural districts in much tbo larger part of the civilised world. It has not gone so far as yet in New York, however, as to bring the annual suicide rate to as high a point as it reached in some European cities. In Dresden, for instance, the rats is B 1 per 100,000 inhabitants. In Paris It is 42; in Berlin, 36; in Vienna, 28; in Stockholm, 27; in London, 23. The lowest rates reported from any of the large European cities are >om Lisbon and Madrid, with only 2 and 3 suicides per 100,000 per annum respectively. The statistics showing the increase in the rate in the main European countries are Tery significant. In France, for instance, as against 15.7 per 100,000 inhabitants 25 years ago the rate is now 22.4. In Germany the increase is about the same, and in Belgium only a little less. Austria increased by 8.9 per 100,000, Hungary by 2.7, England by 1.5, Scotland by 1.8. Russia showed no increase. These are die rates for tbs entire population of the countries named, and not merely for the cities, where the increase has been in general aiach moss rapid. _