The measurement includes things such as lost wages and productivity and the cost of caring for the sick and injured. The WHO notes that suicide rates are generally much higher in the former communist countries than elsewhere, and the rates of suicide are significantly higher among men than among women. The rate for men in Russia is 66.4 per 100,000 and for women it is 12.3 per 100,000. However, high suicide rates are not universal throughout the former Soviet Union. In Georgia, for example, the male suicide rate is 5.4 per 100,000 while for women it is 2.0 per 100,000.
Suicide rates are comparatively lower in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The United Nations implemented a major suicide prevention program in 1999. The U.S. strategy unveiled this week is the result of an effort undertaken in 1998, when U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher made suicide prevention a priority. He told the press conference that suicide can be prevented. Only recently have we had the knowledge and the tools available to us to approach suicide as a public health problem with realistic opportunities to save lives. But if we apply the existing knowledge, we can significantly lower the rate of suicide in this country.