Alcohol consumption and gradient in suicide rates among rural and urban population of Belarus

In many countries the suicide rate among rural citizens is much higher than among urban citizens. That statistics is also true for former Soviet republics. It is probable that such factor as alcohol consumption underlie high level of suicide mortality among rural population because alcohol related problems rates are much higher for rural population in general. Objective: This study aims to test the alcohol-related hypothesis of the gradient in suicide rates among urban and rural population in Belarus. Method: A Spearman’s correlation analysis was used to examine the relation between the gender specific suicide rates among urban and rural population and alcohol consumption per capita between 1990 and 2015. Results: The suicide rate rose substantially among rural male population. These changes resulted in a deterioration rural-urban suicide difference across the period. A Spearman’s correlation analysis suggests a statistically significant positive relationship between alcohol consumption per capita among urban men (r=0,73; p