Lithuania ranks as the happiest place for those under 30, but it also has very high suicide rates. On the surface, it seems like a paradox. But a closer look reveals a stark generational divide.
Domantas Katelė, an official in Lithuania's Ministry of Social Security and Labour, is widely known as his country's "Gen Z" minister. Rings adorn Katelė's tattooed fingers, which he uses to proudly point to his "Politicians make me sick" door sign. At 25, he's the country's youngest-ever minister (he still wears braces), and rarely lets visitors leave his office without taking a selfie.
Katelė's portfolio includes youth affairs. "It's a golden age for the youth of Lithuania," he told Business Insider during a visit to Vilnius in August. The World Happiness Report backs up his claim, ranking Lithuania as the happiest place in the world for those under 30 earlier this year.
But it would be inaccurate to paint Lithuania as some sort of dreamland, Katelė adds. After all, it's also Europe's suicide capital. A paradox? Though the suicide rates have declined since its independence from the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Lithuania still often leads the European Union in this grim statistic.
Between 2019 and 2021, Lithuania had the highest rate of death by intentional self-harm in the 27-country bloc, and, according to the OECD's most recent data , it had the second-highest suicide rate globally. It seems paradoxical: How can a country be great for young people while also being Europe's s.