Nearly a million people in Russia have committed suicide during the last two decades, an eminent psychiatrist said Wednesday, but the national suicide rate is falling.
The majority of people who killed themselves between 1991 and 2012 were working-age adults or teenagers, said Boris Polozhy, an expert with the state-run Serbsky psychiatric institute.
Russia's suicide rate of about 20 people per 100,000 has nearly halved since 2001, but is still about double the world average, according to the World Health Organization.
The proportion of teenagers killing themselves is also comparatively high in Russia compared to other countries. The Federal Consumer Protection Service said in March that Russia holds first place in Europe for the number of suicides among children and adolescents.
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