Reviving this, the suicide rate is highest in ex-USSR states and eastern asia. I wonder if there is a connection between the high suicide rates and low TFR. Maybe quality of life is low and people don’t want kids because of it. It isn’t a clear cut connection, but the top countries with high suicide and the bottom countries with regards to TFR are in the same regions (eastern europe, east asia).
The following are lists of countries by estimated suicide rates as published by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources.[note 1]
In many countries, suicide rates are underreported due to social stigma, cultural or legal concerns. Thus, these figures cannot be used to compare real suicide rates, which are unknown in most countries.
The global total of suicide deaths decreased from an estimated 762,000 in 2000 to 717,000 in 2021, which is 9.1 deaths per 100,000 population. In hig...
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2127rank.html
MrDibble:
That sounds a lot more like America than Europe (and that article seems to be about America, too) - the Europe I know has things like years of paid parental leave - that hardly sends a “kids are unwanted” message. I know (from my limited experience) that kids were everywhere, parents took their kids everywhere, classes of schoolkids were at all the museums and castles and galleries and cheese factories I visited this last time.
But that’s anecdotal and perhaps your experience of Europe is different - care to cite it?
Cheese factories?
Then again, to be reasonable about it, why not cheese factories?