The Silenced Death: suicide in the Asturian mining areas

Suicide in Spain is the leading cause of unnatural death, surpassing the figure of 4,000 people since 2021. This means that every day 11 people die by suicide. There are three areas where the incidence of suicide is especially high: eastern Andalusia, northern Galicia and Asturias, the community that leads the percentage of suicides in Spain per 100,000 inhabitants. The Asturian mining basins have such high percentages that they are almost three times the national average. The socioeconomic and cultural structure of these territories is directly linked to their high suicide rates. Factors such as the high consumption of alcohol, drugs and legal psychotropic drugs (for generations) have been found, which added to the lack of future prospects due to the end of mining activity, leads to the degradation of the identity of this territory, as well as to its population decline, which allows different emotional problems to take root.

Suicide is a global and social problem, with multiple factors, and in many countries it is the leading cause of unnatural death. Spain is one of those countries, exceeding the number of 4,000 people since 2021. This means that 11 people die by suicide every day.

There are three areas where the incidence of suicide is particularly high: eastern Andalusia, between the towns of Iznájar, Alcalá la Real and Priego de Córdoba, which form the so-called “triangle of suicides”; Galicia, especially the northern area, and Asturias, the community that leads the percentage of suicides in Spain per 100,000 inhabitants.

In Asturias there are different places and areas with high percentages, even reaching double and triple the national average. The case of the mining basins is one of them, with the exception that they have always had a high percentage of deaths by suicide for decades. For this reason, research was carried out on the relationships between the socioeconomic, historical and cultural structure of these territories and their high suicide rates, where factors such as the high consumption of alcohol, drugs and legal psychotropic drugs or the lack of a future perspective have been found. The end of mining activity in itself is not a defining factor, but the absence of a sustainable economy in the localities and the degradation of the identity of this territory, as well as the progressive population decline.

Suicide attempts and deaths by suicide depend on multiple factors and there is usually no single cause that leads people to take their own lives in order to stop suffering. Personal motives such as the rupture of close ties, whether friendship, work or family, are not always the determining factor. The situation of this territory is framed in a tradition that is not very communicative when it comes to expressing intimacy, feelings or problems. For this reason, the mining basins have become an ideal breeding ground for depression and other emotional and affective problems, patterns that can be repeated between generations and that ultimately lead to suicide.