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That may be correct -- depending on the degree to which you agree with Pinker's (I assume) interpretation of statistics. But it probably does not reflect the reality of the people contemplating or committing suicide. They may also not care if things are _objectively_ better when things subjectively suck for them.

But, very few people people commit suicide purely in response to their despair concerning the state of the world. There are almost always deeper mental health issues involved. And as strange as it sounds, suicide goes in and out of fashion as well. In general, it's very difficult to drill down on causality of suicide rates.