Convergence in suicide rates in FSU countries: a clustering approach

ABSTRACT

This paper aims at identifying convergence clubs in suicide rates for a sample of 20 of FSU countries during the 1994–2016 period. A novel machine learning approach revels that while the null hypothesis of overall convergence has been rejected at the 5% significance level, there are four convergence clubs in the region. Within these clubs, different countries are on different transition paths and speeds of convergence, suggesting different policy interventions.

KEYWORDS:

• Convergence
• suicide rates
• club convergence
• former Soviet Union republics & former satellite countries (FSU)

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• C33
• O40
• I12
• O57

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Undetermined deaths are excluded from the analysis, and suicide rates are based on a standard population since demographic structures vary over time across countries. Also, suicide rates were missing for roughly 11%, and we imputed them using Amelia II in R (Honaker, King, and Blackwell 2011). Results available upon request.