Greece: the most telling economic statistic

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.