Is Suicide a Question Of Social Standing? Elderly Suicide Rates In Cosmopolitan Berlin

Although Germans have never been healthier, or had such high life expectancy, social inequality continues to rise. While the population as a whole is experiencing this positive social development, it runs counter to the findings that people who are on the periphery, those who are socially and economically disadvantaged, experience less of this good health. International studies have shown that these people are often clustered together geographically.

We argue that the reported suicide statistics in the Berlin Health Report require a closer inspection because the age groups and zones used in reporting are not sensitive enough to provide a robust picture of the articulation of social status and suicide. For example, in 2009 the Berlin health report suggested that there was no relationship between elderly suicide and social status. We will introduce our comparative study which aims to test whether there is indeed no correlation between elderly suicide and districts when (a.) more comprehensive data from coroner statistics is being deployed and whether there is indeed no correlation between elderly suicide and specific spatial areas when (b.) more comprehensive data from smaller heterogeneous urban zones beneath the district level are being accounted for.

The identification of these zones or socially weak areas is based on the research of the working group "Monitoring Soziale Stadtentwicklung" in Berlin. They aim to describe and analyse the socio-structural transformation of parts of the city and different districts through a statistical indicator system. Their very precise development index for smaller spatial areas was correlated with the comprehensive coroner data we collected. We detected a strong correlation between social status and elderly suicide. This suggests that incorporating the legal and medical records from the coroner and altering the definition of a municipal district to capture this fine level of detail establishes a real and concerning trend.