Teenage suicides shake up Russia


A spate of teenage suicides has shaken Russia, with officials calling for urgent measures and experts pointing to deep-rooted social problems.

A 15-year-old girl jumped from the 23rd floor of her apartment house in Moscow on Saturday. It was the sixth teenage suicide reported this week. On Tuesday, two girls aged 12 and 14, jumped from the roof of a 14-story building in Lobnya, just outside Moscow. The next day a 14-year-old boy jumped to death from the balcony of his 12th-floor flat in Moscow. Two boys hanged themselves in Yakutia and Krasnoyarsk, Siberia.

The immediate reasons for the suicide were different, ranging from fear of punishment for skipping classes to a quarrel with parents or a ban on using computer.

Shocking statistics made public in the wake of these suicides revealed a grim picture: every year 1,500 to 2,000 teenagers take their own lives in Russia. This is three times the world average, according to Dr. Boris Polozhy of the Serbsky State Psychiatric Centre.......Read More

Source: The Hindu


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