[The Hungarian suicide enigma]

Hungary has had a traditionally high suicide rate in the last century. With a twofold increase between 1960 and 1985, this country had the highest recorded suicide rate in the world. This dramatic increase was due to an extreme high suicide mortality in elderly people. A very strong age effect, especially in women, is a unique phenomenon. Further demographic, epidemiological, psychosocial and biological investigations were carried out in the recent years, and overviewed here briefly. Post-mortem psychiatric assessment of suicide victims, biological research and epidemiological data suggest that undiagnosed and untreated depression is a significant factor in the high suicide mortality.