How suicides soared during the recession: 10,000 lives were taken in Europe and North America during recent financial crisis



Before the recession, suicide rates had been falling, say researchers



The increase in suicides was four times greater among men than women

In Europe suicide rates rose by 6.5%, in the U.S. they rose by 4.5%

The recent recession triggered a surge in suicides, particularly amongst men.



A new study has found the financial crisis between 2008 and 2010 was responsible for thousands of deaths across Europe and North America.



The research, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, shows that suicide rates ‘rose significantly’ after the 2007 financial crash.



The financial crisis was responsible for at least 10,000 suicides, new research suggests

Experts from the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the increase was four times higher among men than women.



They analysed data from the World Health Organisation about suicides in 24 EU countries, the U.S. and Canada.



Between 2007, when the economic crisis began, and 2009, suicide rates rose in Europe by 6.5 per cent, they found. The rates remained elevated until 2011.

This corresponds to an additional 7,950 suicides than would have been expected across these EU countries during this time period, they said.



Before the recession suicide rates had been falling in Europe, they added.



In addition, suicide rates in Canada and the U.S. rose by 4.5 per cent and 4.8 per cent respectively, during the same time.



Redundancies, debt and home repossessions were the main causes of suicides related to the recession

Overall there were at least 10,000 additional suicides as a result of the crisis, the authors say.



But they added that this is a conservative estimate.



Job loss, home repossession and debt are the main causes of suicide during economic downturns, they believe.



‘There has been a substantial rise in suicides during the recession, greater than we would have anticipated based on previous trends,’ said lead author Dr Aaron Reeves, of Oxford University’s Department of Sociology.



‘A critical question for policy and psychiatric practice is whether suicide rises are inevitable.



‘This study shows that rising suicides have not been observed everywhere so while recessions will continue to hurt, they don’t always cause self-harm.



‘A range of interventions, from return to work programmes through to antidepressant prescriptions, may reduce the risk of suicide during future economic downturns.’



Co-author Professor David Stuckler, also from the University of Oxford, added: ‘Suicides are just the tip of the iceberg. These data reveal a looming mental health crisis in Europe and North America.



‘In these hard economic times, this research suggests it is critical to look for ways of protecting those who are likely to be hardest hit.'



Most suicides are committed by people with clinical depression, and the research revealed a marked rise in antidepressant use during the economic downturn.



In the UK, prescriptions of the drugs soared by 19 per cent between 2007 and 2010.



Programmes that actively help people who are out of work appeared to reduce the number of suicides, according to the findings.



The researchers estimated that every $100 (US) (£59.57) spent per head on assistance for the unemployed lowered the risk of suicide by 0.4 per cent.



During the financial crisis, the suicide rate among men rose much faster than the suicide rate among women

Austria, Sweden and Finland were examples of countries where suicide rate did not rise markedly despite rising unemployment during the 2008 to 2010 recession.



In Sweden and Finland the rate remained stable while in Austria it actually decreased.



An earlier period of increasing unemployment in the 1990s saw suicide rates go down in both Sweden and Finland.



Those few industrialised countries that escaped the recession, such as New Zealand, also avoided a rise in suicides, the study found.



In the EU, the number of suicides per 100,000 of the population declined from just under 12 to around 10 between 2001 and 2006.



Then it began to rise, increasing by 6.5 per cent before levelling out in 2009/10.