Suicides soar in Italy

Rome: Recession-mired Italy saw a 40-percent surge in the number of suicides over a 15-month period between 2012 and the first three months of this year, according to a new human rights report.

Almost half of the 121 people who killed themselves over the period were facing financial insecurity, and in over one quarter (28.1 percent) of cases, they had lost their jobs, said the Report on Global Rights 2013.
The biggest share of suicides - nearly one-third - occurred in the industrial northeast, just over a quarter in central Italy and 14.6 percent in the south, the report said.

Many households are struggling to make ends meet in Italy as its longest recession in two decades grinds on and unemployment hit 12 percent in April.
IANS