According to a new report issued through World Health Organization data, the Great Recession has been deadly.
The University of Hong Kong report indicates male suicide rates are directly linked with downward trends in the economy, pinning a correlation between health and the global market that has previously been overlooked.
The report indicates Great Recession-era global suicides increased by 5,000 in 2009, at the height of the financial crisis. The study indicated men were predominantly impacted by the financial downturn, connecting suicides with unemployment rates in more than 50 countries around the globe.
“The 2008 economic crisis has had a far reaching impact on countries around the world,” the report states. “Turmoil in the banking sector led to downturns in stock markets, bankruptcies, housing repossessions, and rises in unemployment.”
The Great Recession is regarded as the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression, collapsing the U.S. housing market and leading to the loss of more than 7 million jobs in the U.S. alone, according to the Russell Sage Foundation.
Using data from the WHO and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the report indicates an otherwise unexplainable surge in suicides among men, particularly those in Europe and the Americas.
In the 18 (North, Central and South) American countries profiled in the report, suicides rates on a whole rose by 6.4 percent, a rate nearly double the world average increase. The largest jumps in suicide rates came in men aged 45 to 64, particularly those in the U.S. While suicide rates for women increased slightly in American countries, there was no correlation between unemployment rates and suicides among women in general.
“Rises in national suicide rates in men seemed to be associated with the magnitude of increases in unemployment, particularly in countries with low levels of unemployment before the crises,” the report states.
Throughout the world, more than 212 million people were without employment in the midst of the crisis, according to statistics compiled by the International Labour Organization. This statistic, generated through 2009 data, indicated a sharp rise of 34 million without jobs in just two years.
The report’s findings have spurred the WHO to take into account the mental well-being of those around the world who are impacted by financial crisis, with the report indicating the organization has “raised concern over the crisis’ impact on global health,” and is calling for “integrated multisectoral actions to closely monitor and protect health, in particular among poor and vulnerable people.”