Tu bi Âr nÂgot tu bi

Nov 22, 2003

To be or not to be
(or what is Sweden's suicide rate, once and for all?)

Here is a loose translation of what I just wrote in Swedish: I couldn't hack it as Sweden's best weblog, so I've decided to aim for notoriety at any cost — hence my attempt at Sweden's worst weblog, which should be easily achieved by blogging in Swedish.

I have no idea why you would want to read this uncorrected text. My Swedish teacher only reads it because I pay her; and I can't afford to pay you all to read it.

For my first post in Swedish I thought I'd find out if Swedes really like to commit suicide. It's a persistent meme, as Jonas recently showed on his blog. Last year I blogged a WHO report that covered suicide, and used it to compare US/Canada and western European suicide levels: They were about the same, 10.5 per 100,000 people per year for western Europe and 10.6 per 100k for the US/Canada. What amazed me then is that suicide rates are much higher than murder rates, with the difference most evident in Europe.

This time, I've gone looking for individual country statistics. Once again, a closer look at statistics gives me numbers that don't add up. In this case, the individual components seem to be higher than the regional aggregates I used last year. The US, for example, has a suicide rate of 13.9/100k, and Canada's is 15.0/100k. Possibly, this discrepancy is due to estimates and projections being made for the regional numbers.

In any case, how does Sweden perform compared to the rest of the world?

[See list]

You can check out more countries on p.186 of the PDF. Clearly, Sweden's suicide rate is nothing special. Catholic countries tend to have lower suicide rates, eastern European countries tend to have higher ones.

If one needs ammunition against the likes of Rush Limbaugh however, here is a useful factoid: Swedish males commit suicide at a lower rate than American males (22.9 vs 23.2). It's the Swedish women who shuffle off this mortal coil faster than American women (9.2 vs 5.3), proving that even in suicide Sweden is staunchly egalitarian.Eftersom det blev fˆr svart att bli Sveriges b‰ste webblogg, kom jag p att skriver Sveriges s‰msta webblogg. Detta projekt bˆr vara j‰tte l‰tt fˆr mig, om jag skriver p svenska.

Jag vet inte varfˆr du skulle vilja l‰sa den h‰r texten. Min l‰rare har inte ‰nnu korrigerat det. Hon l‰ser det bara eftersom jag betala henne; jag orkar inte betala allt som kommer hit till min webblogg.

Fˆr den h‰r fˆrsta inl‰ggen p svenska hade jag idÈen att undersˆka om det ‰r sant att Svenskar tycker om att beg sj‰lvmord. Det verkar vara en strong klichÈ om Sverige, som Jonas p Blind Hˆna har redan vist. Jag kom ihÂg en rapport frÂn den World Health Organization kallad World Report on Violence and Health. Jag hade redan bloggad det fˆrre aret, och jag hade j‰mfˆrt sj‰lvmordtal mellan USA/Canada och v‰st Europa. NivÂerna var n‰stan samma: 10.5 per 100,000 personer begett sj‰lvmord varje ar i v‰st Europa, och 10.6 i USA/Canada. Det ‰r intressant att i v‰st Europa sj‰lvmordtal ‰r mycket hˆgre ‰n det mordtal. Det hade jag inte fˆrmodat.

Men nu har jag hittad informationen om individuella l‰nder [PDF]. Vad ‰r lite konstigt ‰r att de h‰r data komponenter inte st‰mmer ˆverens med de regionala summorna. Till exempel, USA h‰r hade ett sj‰lvmordtal av 13.9/100k och Canada 15.0/100k. Kanske de regionale numren[PDF] var uppskattningar (numren av individuella l‰nder var fˆr specifika Âr). Kanske de var fel. Men J‰mfˆrt resten av v‰rld, hur presterar Sverige i den h‰r listan?

Sverige: 15.9 (1996)
USA: 13.9 (1998)
Argentina: 8.7 (1996)
Australien: 17.9 (1998)
Belarus: 41.5 (1999)
Belgien: 24.0 (1995)
Cuba: 23.0 (1997)
Danmark: 18.4 (1996)
Finland: 28.4 (1998)
Frankrike: 20.0 (1998)
Tyskland: 14.3 (1999)
Holland: 11.0 (1999)
Ungern: 36.1 (1999)
Norge: 14.6 (1997)
Ryskland: 43.1 (1998)
Storbritannien: 9.8 (1999)
Spanien 8.7 (1998)
Schweiz: 22.5 (1996)

Du kan kolla sj‰lv flera l‰nder p PDFen, sidan 186. Vi kan konkludera att Sveriges sj‰lvmordtal ‰r ingenting speciellt. Katolska l‰nder verkar ha f‰rre sj‰lvmˆrdar, och ˆst europeiska l‰nder flera.

Om man behˆver ammunition mot argument frÂn Rush Limbaugh et al, kan man anv‰nda detta faktum: F‰rre Svenska m‰n begÂr sj‰lvmord ‰n Amerikanska m‰n (22.9 vs 23.2). Det ‰r Svenska kvinnor som begÂr mer sj‰lvmord ‰n Amerikanska kvinnor (9.2 vs 5.3), som bevisa att ‰ven med sj‰lvmord ‰r Svenskaren j‰mlikhetstr‰vande. (Jonas, kanske "radikalfeministen" Amy p West Wing vet mer ‰n vi fˆrmÂdde:-)

(Om du har en plˆtslig l‰ngtan om att korrigera nÂgot h‰r ovan, det fÂr du.)

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