The role of family in suicide rate in Italy

We use national panel data at provincial level to investigate the relationship between suicide rates and socio-economic factors in Italy. The role of family, alcohol consumption, social conformism and population density are the main factors in explaining the suicide rate in Italy. Notably, the high heterogeneity between provinces are not explained by economic fluctuations and call the existence of clear relations between suicides rates and cultural/social correlates. In a further step, we check for the main determinats for the Northern provinces. The findings show that the density population and alcohol abuse play a key role in these provinces.