ABSTRACT
This chapter describes three ecological studies which attempt to explain the regional distribution of suicide in Canada: two are cross-sectional analyses carried out on suicide in the provinces for the periods 1969-73 and 1979-81 and the third is a longitudinal study linking changes across the interval. It is clear that there was a shift to the western provinces and that, although the ratio of male suicide was overall twice that of females, in the provinces to the east the proportions of female suicide were considerably lower. Male suicide increased in nine of the ten provinces over the decade but female suicide only in five. The greater decline in neonatal deaths found in the high provinces for female suicide suggests that these provinces experienced a greater degree of industrial expansion than did the low suicide provinces. The higher proportion of women who entered technological and other non-traditional occupations in the high female suicide provinces supports this notion.
