Finno-Ugrian suicide hypothesis

The Finno-Ugrian suicide hypothesis proposes to link genetic ties originating among Finno-Ugric peoples to high rate of suicide, claiming an allele common among them is responsible.

Mari and Udmurts have been found to have a three times higher suicide rate than Finns and Hungarians. It has been thus theorized that such a possible allele may have arisen in those populations.

However, contrary to the hypothesis, available contemporary (1990–1994) suicide rates in the United States were uniformly negatively associated with the proportion of the population comprising people of self-reported Hungarian, Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Slovakian, or Ukrainian descent. The findings of this first test outside Europe are therefore conflicting. A proposal based on the geographical study approach is offered to further the progress of investigations into the genetics of suicide.