Russia Has Biggest Child Suicide Rate in Europe

MOSCOW. March 11 (Interfax) – Russia has the biggest child suicide rate in Europe, the Rospotrebnadzor website reported on Monday.

“Russia has the highest suicide rate among children and teens in Europe. The rate has grown by 35%-37% in the recent years. In all, Russia reported about 800,000 suicides from 1990 to 2010,” it said.

The child suicide rate continues to grow in Russia, the report said.

“A survey showed that 1,379 boys and 369 girls ages 15 to 19 took their own lives in 2009. State statistic reported 260 teenage suicides in 2009 and 1.2 times more in 2010. The suicide rate is 19-20 per 100,000 teenagers, which is thrice higher than the world’s average,” Rospotrebnadzor said.

“Suicides are the most frequent in the 15 to 35 age group. There are up 200 failed suicides per one death in that category,” the report said.

Rospotrebnadzor experts have discussed prevention of child suicide propaganda with Russian Internet industry leaders.

The website said that only a few Internet industry actors limited access to suicide propaganda.

A law protecting children from information harmful for their health and development entered into force on November 1. In particular, it limits children’s access to illegal information posted online and provides the possibility to block websites by IP addresses. Websites containing outlawed information can be blacklisted. Also, the blocking is possible at orders from authorized agencies.

Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko said in January that his service had demanded that almost 600 websites containing child suicide information be closed.