Suicides linked to economic crisis on rise in Italy

Italians have been taking their own lives at an alarming rate as a result of the economic crisis in recent weeks, according to AFP.

Daily media reports have thrown the spotlight on the desperation of small business owners, workers and unemployed people who have lost hope as the economy struggles through recession and unemployment reaches record highs of 9.3 percent.

One of the most shocking cases was the self-immolation last month of a 58-year-old builder in Bologna in central Italy who was under pressure over unpaid taxes. He died of his burns in hospital after nine days of agony.

In the latest case on Thursday, a 53-year-old farmer was found hanged in his farm building in northeast Italy, leaving behind a wife and four children. He had told friends and relatives that his business was in serious financial trouble.

The leader of the centre-right People of Freedom party, Angelino Alfano, pointed to “a wave of suicides linked to economic difficulties.”

Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat, Italy’s biggest private company, said: “This is the reflection of an unsustainable situation.”

Antonio Di Pietro, leader of the centre-left Italy of Values party, added controversy to the phenomenon earlier this month when he blamed Prime Minister Mario Monti directly saying: “These suicides are on his conscience.”

He accused Monti of “lying in the newspapers about the crisis being over.”

Already hit by the global financial crisis in 2009, Italy’s economy has now been weakened even more by the debt crisis and a series of austerity plans approved last year in a bid to reassure the markets over the stability of its finances.