Why are there so many suicides in rich, stable Uruguay?
Despite being South America’s happiest country, it has a high suicide rate
Uruguay is rich, stable and egalitarian. According to international rankings, it is South America’s happiest country. Yet its suicide rate—the annual number of suicides per 100,000 people—is more than double the average for Latin America and the Caribbean. Last year in the country of 3.4m, 823 people killed themselves, the highest number on record and an increase of nearly 50% since 2010. Why?
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Deaths of despair”
From the November 11th 2023 edition
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