[This is a guest post by Valerio Pellegrini*, about the unpublished data visualization he created for Corriere della Sera – La Lettura.]
This piece shows the suicides occurred in 2014 in the examined 104 countries. Each nation is characterized by two lines, one for males and one for females, which show, for five different age groups, the unrefined rate of suicides for every 100,000 inhabitants. These two lines finally converge in the external circumference, highlighting the absolute number of suicides in their correspondent nation.
This visualization has the strength to raise awareness about the subject, and actually make the human losses that characterized the past year visible. In this way it is possible to analyze both the absolute value of the dead, the number (the outer circumference), but also the crude rate of suicides that takes into account the different age groups.
The center text comes from the foreword of ‘Preventing Suicide – A Global Imperative’, 2014 (pdf), by Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization:
“Every suicide is a tragedy. It is estimated that over 800 000 people die by suicide and that there are many suicide attempts for each death. The impact on families, friends and communities is devastating and far-reaching, even long after persons dear to them have taken their own lives.
Unfortunately, suicide all too often fails to be prioritized as a major public health problem. Despite an increase in research and knowledge about suicide and its prevention, the taboo and stigma surrounding suicide persist and often people do not seek help or are left alone. And if they do seek help, many health systems and services fail to provide timely and effective help.”
*Valerio Pellegrini is a Milan-based information designer, currently working as a freelance designer for US, UK and Italian Wired, Corriere della Sera, Foreign Policy, Fast Company and Column Five, and I collaborate with DensityDesign and Accurat. His portoflio was featured here on Visualoop, and you can see more of his works on Behance: http://be.net/valeriopellegrini.