Incidence and seasonal variation of suicide mortality in Greece

Abstract

The frequency of suicide in Greece by age, sex, urban-rural residence, and seasonality was studied. The study was based on data from the National Statistical Service of Greece for the period 1959–1975. The main findings are as follows: (A) the age-adjusted mortality from suicide in Greece is among the smallest in the world and contrary to the world-wide trends has recently been declining: (B) mortality from suicide is higher among men than among women and increases gradually with age: (C) mortality from suicide is higher in the rural than in the urban areas of Greece, a pattern rarely observed in other countries: and (D) there is a consistent and remarkable seasonal variation in the frequency of suicide in this country that follows the pattern of a harmonic curve with the peak in June.