Host Ryhor Azaronak and political analyst Yury Vaskrasenski discussed the supposed mood of despair gripping Lithuania and Latvia on the television program “Azaronak. Directly” on November 10, 2025.
“The nation is drinking itself into oblivion, people are leaving the country. And if some despicable zmahar, navalnist, or banderite* starts mouthing off in the comments, we’ll shut them down with cold hard facts — the statistics. Which nation and country currently ranks first in suicides per capita? It’s Lithuania. You’ll be shocked — the top three are Lithuania, Latvia and South Korea,” the political analyst said, citing what he claimed were official statistics.
The Weekly Top Fake team examined the latest data from the World Health Organization for 2021 and found that Vaskrasenski was wrong. South Korea is indeed among the top three countries with the highest suicide rates — it ranks second, with 27.5 suicides per 100,000 people. But Lithuania and Latvia are nowhere near the top. The top two spots are held by countries in southern Africa — Lesotho and Eswatini.
To compile the ranking, the WHO evaluates more than 180 countries and territories. Lithuania ranks eighth overall, with 22.1 suicides per 100,000 people. It tops the list among European nations. But Vaskrasenski didn’t mention that Russia and Ukraine follow close behind, with suicide rates only slightly lower — 21.4 and 21.2 per 100,000 people, respectively.
Latvia, meanwhile, ranks 26th worldwide, just one spot below Belarus. In Belarus, the rate stands at 15.6 suicides per 100,000 people.
* — derogatory terms used by Belarusian state TV for opposition in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine respectively: “zmahar” is a Belarusian term used to disparage pro‑democracy activists; “navalnist” refers to a supporter of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny; “banderite” refers to followers of Ukrainian nationalist figure Stepan Bandera.