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‘Western Countries Lead in Suicide Rate Statistics.’ Wrong Data from “ZhS Premium” Fact-checked
The “ZhS Premium” did not specify that the list included only some countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The telegram channel “ZhS Premium” reported that Western countries are among the leaders in the suicide rate ranking and published statistics to back up this. The Weekly Top Fake team investigated the data and found that it does not confirm an inverse relationship between love of life and democracy.
The Belarus pro-government telegram channel “ZhS Premium” published the suicide rate ranking on September 12, 2024. The list of countries was provided with the following comments:
“Suicide rate statistics. Strange dependence: those who love teaching others about democracy mostly lead this unflattering ranking. Apparently, love for life and democracy are inversely proportional.”
South Korea, Lithuania, and Hungary occupy the first three places. Then there are only Western countries. However, the “ZhS Premium” did not specify that the list included only some countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This is an international organization whose participants adhere to the principles of democracy and a market economy. At the time of publication, it included 38 countries in the world, mainly Western ones.
According to WHO data for 2019 (the latest available at the time), the global suicide rate leaders are Lesotho, Guyana, and Eswatini. Then there is South Korea. Among developed countries, it is really the first, followed by Lithuania a few lines below. Then there are Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
In 2018, the top of the list was as follows: Lesotho, Guyana, South Korea, Eswatini, Micronesia, Kiribati, Lithuania, Russia, Suriname, South Africa, Belarus, and Ukraine.
In 2017, the first three places were held by Lesotho, Guyana, and Eswatini, while Russia and Belarus had higher suicide rates than all EU countries except Lithuania.
