World’s Economic Crisis Tied to Increased Suicide Rates

Posted on September 20, 2013

When people commit suicide, investigators, doctors and family and friends all want to uncover the factors that forced the individual to end his or her life. Since suicide is inflicted upon oneself, finding and understanding the motives can be relatively more difficult. For years researchers have studied the act of suicide. The combination of these works has helped researchers create a list of internal and external variables that contribute to one's suicide risk. One of these factors, the financial stressor, has recently been studied. According to the researchers of this study, the global economic crisis that started in 2008 can be tied to the increased rates of suicide in Europe and in America.

In 2009, the researchers calculated that there was 37 percent increase in unemployment rates with a three percent decrease in GDP (gross domestic product) per capita. Aside from the economic consequences of the crisis, the researchers also found that there was a spike in male suicide rates. During that year, there were nearly 5,000 additional suicides that were not estimated to happen. Even though the suicide rates increased in both regions of the world, the age group that it affected differed. In Europe, the age group that committed more suicides than estimated was men aged 15 to 24. In America, the rise in suicide rates was noticeable in men aged 45 to 64. The rates for women only increased slightly in America. These rates were mostly seen in 27 European nations and 18 American ones.

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Category(s):Suicide Prevention

Source material from Counsel