Suicide has always been a great problem not only in Europe but all over the world. What makes people kill themselves? Hardly any of us can answer this question because even the age, social status or sex do not define a reason for committing a suicide. Every year about 1,000,000 suicides happen worldwide and Europe, east and west, has 163,000 of those. Most people decide to end their lives at home or work and some of them chose a special place to visit before death.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Europe has the world’s highest suicide rate and if it used to be the over-75 age group, today the cases are rising among young people. Women attempt suicide 3 times more than men, though men 3 times more actually commit it. It is known that women are more likely to chose “romantic” ways of killing themselves like poisoning or jumping off high buildings and bridges while men use much more violent methods such as gunshot to head and mouth or crush injury. All the scientists and researchers firmly insist that Europe needs to lose its shameful record of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 population. Talking about most suicidal countries the UK, Sweden, Germany, France, Hungary and Belgium are on top-10.
Today not only the number but also the types of suicides change. Now you can meet a lot of people coming from different countries to big cities and famous places of interest to end their lives jumping off the cliff, a bridge or a tower. This kind of people is now called “tourists-suicides” and the popular places where the case takes place – “suicide sites”. These destinations have a certain reputation and some magic aura that attracts people who decided to die. Psychologists say those who attempt suicide in a well-known place try to draw other people’s attention they needed while being alive.
Among such suicide sites – Clifton Bridge and Humber Bridge located in the UK, Göltzschtalbrücke – the railway bridge in Germany, Cliffs of Moher – the spectacular seaside cliffs located in Ireland, Nusle Bridge (or Nuselsky Most) in Prague, and of course Eiffel Tower in Paris.
A lot of people kill themselves in Paris, and jumping off the “Iron Lady” (which is 1,063 feet high) is the third most popular method of suicide after poisoning and hanging in France. Actually only about 68% of the suicides are known by the Official Statistic in Paris region and 26% of them for Paris city, and after AIDS, suicide is the second cause of death here.
The first suicide at the Eiffel Tower was committed by a 23-year-old man who hanged himself from one of the beams on July, 15th 1898. The most recent case of suicide, according the media, happened on June, 26th this year. A young woman threw herself from half way up the Eiffel Tower, crashing onto a restaurant patio on the first floor of the Paris monument. For 120 years since the monument construction about 400 people killed themselves here, of which two survived the 171 feet drop from the first floor, one was blown onto a rafter by the wind and one young woman landed on the roof of a car. The interesting fact that later on after recovering from her injuries this woman married the owner of the car.
Several years ago 6 feet high barriers have been constructed on the tower perimeter in order to lessen the number of incidents. And now, as the Police Préfecture says, suicide attempts became really rare. Though there are still a lot of people who desire to jump off a famous Paris site. At least 4-5 cases of suicide a year happen here. That is the reason why the Eiffel Tower is named one of the most popular suicide sites in Europe. Though it would better be just a nice place to visit…
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I think Eiffel Tower’s worth to be jumped off… Isn’t it beautiful?
that’s a whole lot of interesting facts about eiffel tower, i didn’t know people there could go crazy like that. i’ve heard china is no. 1 about suicides, maybe because it has the biggest population though, from european countries latvia is the most famous for suicides as far as i know.
Sad to know how many ppl in this world like to kill themselves. I guess they don’t think about parents, friends or whoever cares about ‘em. But what I’d never understand is why do they need to go so far away from home if they will die anyway…
By the way I’ve already read somewhere about the world famous bridges people use to jump off. Golden Gate Bridge which is in California is one of the most magnetic places for suicides.
Just look at this statistics – that is really sad what’s going on in this world. I’ve got a friend who hang himself in a closet couple years ago… always hear about suicides on tv or reading about it online… why don’t these people just try to talk to somebody… psychologists or friends I don’t know… Can you believe having a kid or a boyfriend who just decides to die one sunny day? And why government doesn’t do anything about that?.
haha..remember about 1500 sheep jumping off the cliff in Turkey in 2005. I saw that on TV they said it was an animal suicide kind of… these people remind me of those sheep. Com’on guys just enjoy the life you’ve got and it all will be fine!
they say when somebody says that he is thinking of killing himself he just wants attention. Especially if this person wants to jump off the Eiffel Tower…))
this article says government does do things to prevent suicides, building all these barriers and stuff… I’ve read in one blog that the state of Washington allocated $1.4 million in 2007 to build an 8 foot high suicide prevention fence at Aurora Bridge… that’s not too bad
maybe for some ppl that’s at least the way to end their life with honor…
isn’t that cute about that lady marrying an owner of the car? I love such stories with a happy end… yeah Eiffel tower is beautiful but that’s not the reason to die… there are so many good things about life. I’m happy I’m alive:)
omg.. the tower was the one I was living by when I stayed at the hotel in paris last year… I wouldn’t expect that many people to jump off this site. yeah I’ve heard about tourists going to some famous destinations to end their life there…
do you know Hungary has the highest suicide rate in the over-75 age category at 108 per 100,000 people? Does anyone know why old people commit suicide???…
The elderly tend to commit suicide because of loneliness, loss of spouse and illness. They don’t want to go through the pain and agony of medical treatment when they are already elderly. And they don’t want to be a burden to their family.
Life isn’t good for a lot of people. It’s mostly about money and looks and in the end you will die many getting horrible diseases that society expects to make you suffer while to the end enriching medical people fleecing you you for every last cent. It seems to drag on forever if your depressed but goes all to quickly even if you’re enjoying it. A tradgedy in one act as Shakespeare said. Got to grab what you can of it while you’re young! Accept things and enjoy the little things and giving of yourself pays back ten times. We should also allow a painless way for folks to end their lives if they truly want to especially for terminallly ill people suffering needlessly like my mother did. Oh and be as nice as possible to each other and don’t listen to all the gangsters that run “governments”, banks, armies, and the main media.
English is obviously the second language of the person who wrote this piece.
pretty good piece though.. whoever whote this did do his best!