Association of economic growth and suicides: evidence from India

Purpose The issue of suicide is one of the prominent issues in India mitigation of which is a challenge to ensure sustainable development. This study aims to look into the possible long-run association of economic development and suicide. Further, this study has made an effort to identify socio-economic factors that may stimulate suicide. Design/methodology/approach The present work is based on time series data for the period covering 1991–2023. This study used the ARDL Bound Test Approach after performing stationarity tests of the time series variables to estimate the coefficient. Findings The result of ARDL Bound test and error correction model reveals the existence of a long-run association between suicide and per-capita income, along with other macro-economic indicators. The result of the ARDL estimation shows that 1% per-capita income growth causes a 0.9% decline in suicidal mortality in India. Research limitations/implications The findings of this study suggest that economic growth may be an effective means of promoting the quality of life for people. Suicide rate, to a large extent, is associated with the quality of life or a parameter of unhappiness that may be controlled by focusing on quantitative as well as qualitative aspects of economic development. The lack of availability of data for socio-psychological parameters is an observed limitation of this study. Originality/value Although there are numerous works undertaken on the linkage between economic development and suicides but with respect to India, there is little research covering different aspects of economic determinants of suicides in India.