Since the year 2000, the number of deaths of despair has declined in nearly 75% of the 59 countries with available data examined by STATEC researchers in World Happiness Report 2025. ⬅️ This decline approaches, on average, -2 deaths per 100,000 persons per year in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, followed by Kazakhstan, Finland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, and Denmark. ➡️ The United States, on the other hand, has seen an average yearly increase of 1.3 deaths per 100,000. Deaths of despair rapidly rose due to a number of factors, but especially among middle-aged men due to increased drug abuse. The Republic of Korea and Slovakia have the second and third highest yearly increase in deaths of despair, with average annual increases below 1. A word of caution, though: cultural and institutional differences can affect ‘cause of death’ reporting and limit the comparability of data across countries. Read more in Ch6 of #WHR2025 👉 https://lnkd.in/ecpT2CRq
