P526 526 TELEINF 03:57:52 SUICIDE RATE SOARING IN ESTONIA GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN - The suicide rate in Estonia has doubled in five years to reach the highest level in Europe, an estonian doctor told a medical conference Monday. Arno Aadamsoo of Tartu University blamed the increase on growing alcoholism and intense pressure to succeed in the new market economy following the Baltic Republic's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. From 1988 to 1993, the suicide rate jumped from 40 to 80 cases per 100,000 people, and the other two Baltic Republics, Latvia and Lithuania, have witnessed similar increases, Aadamsoo said. In the 1980s, he said, the estonian government waged a program against alcoholism and estonians "weri hopeful because liberation from the soviet system seemed near." But now, see next page >>>