Uruguay suicide rate reaches new record in 2022, cementing position as outlier in region

By DANIEL POLITI
Associated Press

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The suicide rate in Uruguay increased once again last year, reaching a new record and cementing the small country’s position as an outlier in the region. The South American country’s suicide rate reached 23.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, when the number of deaths by suicide totaled 823, marking an increase from the previous record of 21.6 that had been set the previous year, according to figures from Uruguay’s Health Ministry. Uruguay is by far an outlier in the Americas, where the average suicide rate was nine per 100,000 people in 2019, according to the latest available figures by the World Health Organization.