Suicide rates amongst men born in Morocco is slightly higher in the second generation than in the first, reveals a sociology study by a VUB student, Mariska Bauwelinck, as published by Le Pharmacien and Le Journal du Médecin on Tuesday. High suicide rates in Belgium mean our country is in the shameful top 5 group of European countries (14.2 suicides per 100,000 residents). The study shows first of all that Belgian-born citizens (both male and female) are at greater risk of committing suicide. People originally from Morocco or Turkey are less at risk, and those from Italy come between the 2 groups.
What is striking in the study however is that for Moroccan men there is a huge leap in the rate of suicide between the first and the second generation, from 8.1 suicides per million people to 25.7. Amongst people from Turkey it is the leap in the number of female suicides between the first and the second generation which is striking (from 3.3 per million inhabitants to 9,8).
(Source: Belga)
