Greece: the most telling economic statistic
In the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki Members of the “I won’t pay” movement protest decorated a Christmas tree with power bills including the new emergency property tax.
The global economic crisis has primarily been told as a tale of numbers: bond yields, debt as a percentage of GDP, unemployment figures.
People hardly seem to figure in the narrative.
Now, comes a number from Greece that deeply personalizes the euro zone debt crisis:
Greece's suicide rate has doubled in the last year. Helena Smith, the Guardian's Athens correspondent files a story this morning, noting that before the economic crisis smashed into the country in 2009/10: "Greece had the lowest suicide rate in Europe at 2.8 per 100,000 inhabitants. It now has almost double that number, the highest on the continent … "
I wonder if similar statistics are being compiled not just in EU countries … but in the U.S.
If anyone reading this knows of any such study, please comment below or contact me.
Every day, reporters and producers at The World are hard at work bringing you human-centered news from across the globe. But we can’t do it without you. We need your support to ensure we can continue this work for another year.
Make a gift today, and you’ll help us unlock a matching gift of $67,000!