A new study suggests that thousands of suicide cases may be linked to financial crisis. These incidences are significantly high for people who commit suicide in states currently experiencing widespread job loss.
The study discovered that there are around 5,000 more suicides in North America and Europe in 2009, which is the year when the first bank crashes had caused economic crisis. This figure is not expected in ordinary circumstances.
Britain is also experiencing this negative pattern as they had 300 more suicides recorded in the same year.
The researchers put the blame on the increasing number of suicide cases to the rising dole queues, house repossessions, and bankruptcies as well. Based on the analysis of the rates of suicides in 45 states in North America and Europe, young male adults within the age group 15 to 24 are more prone to suicide.
The report further shares that men are expected to be the bread winners at home and most likely will be affected by the economic recession, more than women. It is possible that they will undergo a certain level of shame when faced with unemployment and will not attempt to request for aid.
“The rise in the number of suicides is only a small part of the emotional distress caused by the economic downturn. Non-fatal suicide attempts could be 40 times more common than completed suicides and for every suicide attempt about ten people experience suicidal thoughts,” the researchers shared.
The result of the study was not unexpected because of the calls they receive which talk about financial distress had risen from one out of 10 before the recession in 2008, to one out of six by December 2012. They further recommend that the governments must take this in consideration in preparing plans for economic crisis.
There are around 4,331 people in Britain who took their lives in 2008 and 4,304 the succeeding year. The mortality for suicides decreased to 4,231 by 2010 but increased again by 2011 with 4,552 cases.
These findings also support those recorded rise of suicides in previous economic turmoil like the 1930s Great Depression and the late 1990s Asian economic crisis.
The study was published on the online journal British Medical Journal.
