Unemployment dose not “cause” suicides on its own.

Economic circumstances themselves are insufficient to cause a suicide; in fact, we do not know of any
single factor that is sufficient on its own to “cause” a suicide. Stressors such as the loss of a job, a
home, or retirement security can result in shame, humiliation or despair, and in that context, can
precipitate suicide attempts in those who are already vulnerable or do not have sufficient resources to
draw on for support. In most, but not all cases, mental health problems are among the factors that
increase vulnerability.

Although unemployment is associated with increased rates of suicide, many individuals may have
lower rates of employment because of mental health and/or substance abuse problems, which are also
associated with increased suicide rates.

We can expect a sharp downturn in the economy to increase suicide risk, especially among
working-age adults and older adults whose retirement security is threatened.
• Widespread increases in unemployment, usually in the context of unstable or declining economic
opportunity, are strongly linked with increases in suicide rates; the largest changes in the economic
cycle generally produce the largest increases in suicides. These links between unemployment and
suicide are especially strong for working-age men, but show up in other groups as well, including
women. Suicide rates tend to decrease with rising optimism and opportunity.
• In times of economic instability, anxiety over the possibility of losing a job, home or retirement nest
egg may affect the employed, as well.

[Link]

Among the causative factors, “economic difficulties (include suffering from unemployment)” was the third most
prevalent in the total population (17.4%), the most prevalent in males (23.1%), and the least prevalent in females
(5.7%).
We found that the annual suicide rates in total correlated remarkably with the unemployment rates among males,
but not with the unemployment rates among women. Among females, the increase in suicide rates correlated
less significantly with the unemployment rate, showing the different influence between the two genders.

We can speculate that the idea concerning work is traditionally

different among men and women

We concluded that an increase

in the unemployment rate beginning notably in 1998
correlated with the increase in the number of male suicides.
When economic conditions become worse, people undergo
more stress in the work place5–13). It should be noted that
suicide appears to be less related to the level of
unemployment, but rather to the change of an individual’s
situation from employment to unemployment. The risk of
suicide increases when people lose their jobs for the first
time.
endogeneous problem see doc “1299”

[Link] Effect on suicide rate of

having reduced unemployment is uncertain

As unemployment re-emerged dramatically in Sweden in 1990, rising suicide rates were expected,
but they didn’t occur. These “natural experiments” show that the relation between unemployment
and suicide is far from clear.

When annual changes in unemployment and suicide rates are cross correlated, however, the
relations disappear completely even if we allow for lagged effects (figure). There is no indication of
unemployment “causing” suicide so that increases in its level would be followed by later increases in
suicide rates.

[Link]

While many researchers have argued that economic hardship can raise the likelihood of
suicide in people who are already vulnerable — like those with depression or other
mental illnesses — research has been mixed. Some studies have supported such a link,
but others have found the opposite: that rates drop in periods of high
unemployment, as if people exhibit resilience when they need it most.

GDP

[Link]
Wealthier nations (as indicated by per capita GDP) tend to have higher suicide rates (Allik & Realo, 1997; Marusic,
Khan, & Farmer, 2002).

Nations with relatively high fertility rates tend to have lower suicide rates (Cutright & Fernquist, 2001).

We were initially surprised by one finding in particular. Earlier studies (Allik & Realo, 1997; Marusic, Khan, &
Farmer, 2002) have found a strong, positive correlation between per capita GDP and national suicide rates. In
our sample, however, the relationship (r = .08) was weak and insignificant. We created a scatter plot to
determine the exact nature of the relationship between national suicide rates and per capita GDP. The plot
revealed two clusters of nations, 46 poorer nations (with per capita GDP under $10,000) and 27 wealthier
nations (with per capita GDP over $10,000). Among the poorer nations, per capita GDP and national suicide
rate were not correlated (r = .08, n.s.). Among wealthier nations, however, per capita GDP and national suicide
rate were strongly correlated (r = .61, p < .01). These findings suggest that a positive relationship between a
nation’s wealth and its suicide rate will be found only among relatively wealthy nations. Indeed, a re-
examination of earlier studies revealed that their samples included wealthier, mostly European nations.

[Link]

articles:
Suicide Risk in Relation
to Psychiatric Hospitalization

Psychiatric disorders and their relation to suicide

(Sweden) By: Samuel Awad

 Psychiatric disorders account for over 90 % of all suicide cases (in sweden)

[Link]

Mental illness reduces

both the quality of life and the productivity of individuals that are a icted with them.

Alcohol and suicide

[Link]

[Link]

Alcohol and drugs also have a major influence on attempted suicides. In a survey sponsored
by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 1992, Deborah Dawson found
that those who had frequently become inebriated were more likely to experience suicidal
thoughts or to actually try to kill themselves. One out of seven persons who were frequently
intoxicated reported suicidal thoughts or or attempts compared to 4 percent for other
current drinkers.

Almost all the alcoholics who commit suicide also suffer from severe mental health
problems.
Do alcohol and drugs directly cause suicide by significantly diminishing the
reasoning of the person at the time of the suicide? In the absence of personal data, it
is difficult to know if those who drank before committing suicide did so to have the
courage to commit suicide. There is evidence, however, to show that alcoholics who
commit suicide usually don't act only on the spur of the moment. George Murphy has
analyzed the issue of alcohol and impulsivity in a series of ten cases where the person
had committed suicide within hours of a very stressful life event. In only two cases
was there evidence of an unexpected impulsive act. In six other cases the person had
communicated some time before the event his or her intent to die. However, even if
the person had considered suicide before, we cannot rule out the possibility of the
alcohol triggering an impulsive act. Long-term consumption of alcohol leads to
depression, which in turn increases the probability of suicide, according to Murphy's
study. But it takes on average more than nineteen years of chronic alcoholism and
seven years of depression before reaching this end, which leaves plenty of time for
treatment and prevention.

[Link]

"As more people lose their jobs there's an increased risk of [further] suicides. As well as the
financial implications, there's added stress on families and relationships, as well as the loss of
social networks to support people.

"The number of suicides that involve alcohol is very high. Alcohol and drugs are used as
coping mechanisms. Alcohol is involved in around two-thirds of suicide attempts; it's a
depressant and that can compound the problem."

Insurance

[Link]

Since life insurance policies pay death benefits even in suicide cases after the suicide
exemption period, the presence of adverse selection and moral hazard suggests an incentive
effect that leads to this positive relationship.

Toyokawa and Shiromizu (1998) and Amemiya (2002) stated that there was an increase in
the number of suicides among life insurance policy holders immediately after the suicide
exemption period

Asia
[Link]

Suicide has been described as the silent killer in the Asia Pacific with sixty percent of the
world's suicides taking place in the region.

[Link]

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates amongst industrialised nations, with 32,552
people committing suicide in 2005.

Experts have blamed a variety of factors for the high suicide rate, including work-related
stress and money worries.

Seventy-two percent of those who committed suicide in 2005 were men, the National
Police Agency said, and almost half of all victims were unemployed.

[Link]

Globalisation, a shift in cultural mores and poverty are among the underlying causes for high
suicide rates in the Pacific.

The Pacific as a region has had the highest suicide rates per capita for the past 70 to 80
years, and yet there is little existing data on the rates or reasons why this is so.

Presenter: Geraldine Coutts

Speaker: Diego De Leo, Professor of Psychiatry at Griffith University & Director of the
Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention

[Link]

Russia and other countries which were part of the erstwhile Soviet Union have highest suicide rate

Group 2 (a medium high suicide rate): Countries like Belgium (21), Finland (20) Switzerland (18),
Austria (18] France (17.6), S. Korea (17.9) and Japan (23.8] too have a fairly high rate of suicide.

Japan, although an eastern nation, is similar to the west and the countries in its group when it
comes to the proportion of men killing themselves as compared to women (many eastern
societies have a higher proportion of women killing themselves, but not in Japan). Japan is a
male dominated society but still, this is so. From what I have heard, Japanese men do not
abandon their women (a major reason for women to commit suicide) and it is probably one of
the reasons why Japanese women do not kill themselves in large numbers (like in some Asian
countries). But Japanese men are under high pressure to perform, both academically and
economically. There is a high level of competition in Japanese society, right from childhood.
This could be a major cause of depression if one doesn’t measure up.

(for JAPAN, see [Link]

[Link] )

S. Korea is similar to Japan when it comes to the number of men committing suicide as
compared to women, and it’s probably for the same reasons – high competition in society. It
is interesting to note that suicide rates in this country have increased to 24.7 from its earlier
17.9 per 100.000 people and this means that S. Korea should actually be in Group 1. Suicide
rates in S. Korea have increased the fastest as compared to any other country, according to a
report by OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). And its
acknowledged that the causes for this dramatic increase is the high level of competition in
Korean society. Suicide rate is around 17 per 100,000 just amongst young South Koreans!