After 3 months of being online, 3,274 views, 53 posts and 177 comments, Swiss readers and followers of unboricuaensuiza.com are expressing a particular feeling.

They feel the blog is an apology for Switzerland. They feel that what I have written and documented so far is all about the good things of their country. Some of them are not comfortable with the ideal picture I paint of their country.  However, some of those critics have confessed to me that they had not noticed many of the virtues that I have pointed out so far, until they read them here. Others acknowledge that my comments in the blog follow the (natural) process of migration, where you first see the virtues and as time goes by, you start noticing the defects. Others are just not happy being portrayed as happy.

It is easier to write about the virtues than the defects. You have to have a deep understanding of the nature of things in your surroundings to make a sensible comment about something negative. However, for a while now, and before I started hearing the complaints of my Swiss readers, the topic of suicide in Switzerland  has piqued my curiosity.

Do people look happy on the train?
Yes, I would say so.

Do folks look content in the Alpine Wanderwegs?
Yes, they do look content.

Are men and women looking anxious and depressed in the city?
No.

Do they have problems?
Absolutely yes.

Switzerland has the highest suicide rate of Western Europe and it ranks as number 16 in the world. The Appenzell cantons, famous for the delicious cheeses and naked people trekking through the Alps, are the most rural, conservative and suicide-prone. Appenzell was also the cradle of Martin Luther’s Protestant reformation back in the XVIth Century. Is there are religious connection?

Some statistics point out a trend that the so-called happiest countries are the ones with the highest suicide incidence. I am not sure about this. China and South Korea are among the top 10 in the world. Puerto Rico is the 59th and the USA is the 38th.Haiti ranks as 107th. Buthan is not in the list.

Suicide is prevalent enough in Switzerland that train conductors do special courses regarding this issue. They are trained to plug their ears and duck down under the conductor’s console to avoid hearing and seeing the suicide perpetrator being squashed under the wheels of the train. During their career, train conductors in Switzerland will experience an average of 3 people committing suicide, by standing in front of moving trains they conduct. They get special time off after such incidents. But train-suicide is not the only way Swiss citizens decide to end it all.

It is calculated that about 25% of all suicides in Switzerland are committed using firearms. I am surprised that the National Rifle Association hasn’t opened a branch here in the land of milk and money. In the USA, 57% of all suicides are committed using guns. Some 95% of gun suicides in Switzerland are committed by men, and of all men that kill themselves, about one in three use this method.

According to studies conducted by researchers at the University of Zürich, firearms were kept in 37.5% of Swiss households. Another study published in 2007 by the Geneva-based non-governmental organization Small Arms Survey estimated that there were 3.4 million firearms in private households across the country. The defense and sport ministry, on the other hand, the same year, put the figure at 2.2 million. Of this number, 535,000 were army weapons, either in the possession of current or retired soldiers, or hired out to gun clubs.  Switzerland’s population is more than 7 million. Not long ago people voted on a referendum to prohibit men and women in the armed forces to  keep their army-issued weapons at home. The measure was not approved.  About 40% of gun suicides use army-issued weapons, while the remainder are committed with types that can be legally purchased in gun shops.

In 2007, the World Health Organization published the statistics for Switzerland. 1360 people committed suicide in 2007: 920 men, 440 women. People 45 years and older represented the highest number. There were 114 suicides in the group from 5 to 24 years old.

So, why is it that the country rated as one of the best places to live, with one of the highest standards of living, and surveyed as having the best quality of life, can have one of the highest suicide rates in the world?

 

10 Comments

  1. Suicides age group 5 to 24. I am in doubt about 5 years old suicide. Maybe at preadolescent ages but 5,6,7 and such how would you know it suicide and not something else?

    1. Author

      Dear reader: Please identify yourself so we can have an open discussion. Thanks. Rubén Abruo

  2. This is more WAG than research, but one theory may be that because Switzerland’s reputation is as being such a happy place, it weighs even heavier on those living there that don’t find themselves to be as happy as they think they should be. Just because we’re not happy all of the time, or even most of the time, doesn’t mean we should be the polar opposite: depressed, but such is human nature and this is possibly fueled in part by today’s cultural expectations. Here’s more food for thought. http://huff.to/Rki8gA

    1. …or, it could be the long winters. I lived in southern Missouri during my high school years. It’s very dreary, cloudy, coldish, and raining for many months. Not much seeing the sun. There was a suicide rate higher than the U.S. national average.

      1. Author

        Many folks in the USA think of winters in Switzerland akin to those in Alaska. I lived and worked (outdoors) in Switzerland, during the winter of 1983. Yes, it was cold, but not killer cold. New York City, where I lived for about 8 years, is colder, windier and nastier, winter-wise.

        Truth is that after living for 17 years in balmy subtropical Miami, my skin might think differently when the winter comes to Zürich. I will let you know…
        …sooner than later because temperatures are starting to drop.

        Tomorrow the low will be 6º C (about 42ºF). Temperatures in Switzerland vary quite a bit by location and altitude. We live in the northern part of the country at around 450 or so meters high. The eastern part of the country (Canton Graubunden) is very mountainous with altitudes as high as 4,049 metres (13,284 ft). There the thermometer is already below freezing temperatures and with snow. Not many people live in this part but it is one of the most beautiful and touristic. The world-famous resorts of St. Moritz and Davos-Klosters are located there.

  3. geez
    first i thought the theme of this one was going to be why you were going to kill this blog. whew.
    second, i thought the swedes topped the swiss in auto-killings. or don’t the swiss count the swedes as european?
    third, as to why so many seemingly happy, in seemingly the most organized, clean, place on the planet,
    auto-off, i would say: YOU CAN ONLY TAKE SO MUCH ORGANIZATION! before you want to run around turning over pots of plants, and throwing mud on the too clean cows, and putting the overpriced fruits in the meat sections, and deflating the bike tires even if they are loaners, and jumping naked in the little fountains, and rather than having these thoughts of random acts of disorganization, they opt out for another chance at life and being born in Puerto Rico, or Spain or somewhere they dance more wildly and where the cafe floors are filthy from tossing the olive pits and trash.
    But then maybe they just get bored.

    1. Hi brad
      this is so funny, and you are sooo right!!!!
      Anni

  4. I suppose when you get in the dead deep cold of winter you’ll find out. Sounds like too nice a place to want to kill yourself, but the longer you live there, the more you’ll find out.

  5. Please continue the research and let us know. Very interesting indeed.

    Tu Prima – Elena

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