Complex Systems

Modeling the Spread of Suicide in Greece Download PDF

Elena De la Poza
Center of Economic Engineering
Universitat Politècnica de València
Valencia, Spain
elpopla@esp.upv.es


Lucas Jódar
Georgia Douklia

Instituto Universitario de Matemática Multidisciplinar
Universitat Politècnica de València
Valencia, Spain
ljodar@imm.upv.es

Abstract

Suicide can be defined as the act of purposely ending one’s life. The reasons that explain why people commit suicide are complex and encompass multiple and combined factors (demographic, economic, emotional, social). In recent years, deaths by suicide have increased incessantly in Greece, becoming a social problem. The aim of this study is to build a dynamic model through a system of difference equations that quantifies the number of hidden cases of suicide in Greece during the period July 2015 to January 2019. Then, the results obtained from computing the model are compared with the Spanish ones for the same period from previous research.

Keywords: suicide; risk; quantification; mathematical model; Greece; Spain

Cite this publication as:
E. De la Poza, L. Jódar and G. Douklia, “Modeling the Spread of Suicide in Greece,” Complex Systems, 28(4), 2019 pp. 475–489.
https://doi.org/10.25088/ComplexSystems.28.4.475