The Cost-Of-Living Crisis and Suicide Rates

Abstract: Background: The cost-of-living crisis may be contributing to suicide rates, but this has not been adequately tested. Aims: We aimed to determine whether the cost-of-living crisis is associated with suicide rates in multiple countries and areas-within-countries. Method: We sourced country- and area-within-country-level monthly suicide data at a minimum from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022 (and at a maximum from January 1, 2016, to June 30, 2023), and population denominator and monthly headline consumer price index (CPI) data. We calculated the yearly change in inflation as the percentage change in CPI for one month versus the equivalent month in the previous year. We estimated associations between yearly change in inflation (lagged by one month) and suicide rates for each country and area-within-country, using autoregressive negative binomial regression. We summarized results using weighted means. Results: We obtained data on 1,372,994 suicides from 54 countries. At the country-level, for every 1.0% increase in yearly inflation in the previous month, there was an average 0.2% increase in suicide rates. The association was strongest in those aged 30–49 and 50–69; for every 1.0% increase in yearly inflation in the previous month, there were 0.3% and 0.6% increases in suicide rates for these age-groups, respectively. This pattern held for males in these age-groups, with increases of the same magnitude, and for females aged 50–69, with a 0.8% increase. At the area-within-country-level, the picture was even starker. Limitations: Study limitations include: the ecological design; the single measure of inflation; potential variations in suicide data quality; lack of representation by low-and-middle-income countries (LMICS); lack of availability of sex, age and sex/age breakdowns for some countries and areas-within-countries; and potential issues with multiple testing. Conclusions: There is an association between the cost-of-living crisis and suicide rates internationally. Public and social policies that improve people’s circumstances are critical.

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Publication Details

Journal
Crisis
Published
2026-10-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a001077
Citations
1
Primary Topic
Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
8.12
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article

The Cost-Of-Living Crisis and Suicide Rates

Nurashikin Ibrahim, Sarah C. Kölzer, Raffaella Calati, Rory C. O’Connor et al.
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Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
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article

The Cost-Of-Living Crisis and Suicide Rates

Nurashikin Ibrahim, Sarah C. Kölzer, Raffaella Calati, Rory C. O’Connor, Marcos DelPozo‐Baños, Rakhi Dandona, Ivalu Katajavaara Seidler, Fabio Madeddu, Rainer Papsdorf, Grant E. Sara, Jeremy Dwyer, Anjum Memon, Pablo Analuisa Aguilar, Navneet Kapur, Franziska Holz, Jason R. Bantjes, Daniel Radeloff, Michele Fornaro, Timo Partonen, Daniel Vásquez, Jeremy Samuel Faust, Keith E Hawton, Emma Therése Eliasson, Nash Denic, Thomas Niederkrotenthaler, Sara Elena Ardila-Gómez, E Deisenhammer, Emma Nielsen, David Crompton, Nayda Román-Vázquez, Maria Coss-Guzmán, Ellen Townsend, Guilherme Luiz Guimaraes Borges, Sarantis Tsiaplias, Giulio Castelpietra, Manuel Canal‐Rivero, Alexandr Kasal, Duleeka W. Knipe, Ellenor Mittendorfer‐Rutz, Stuart Leske, Lay San Too, Louis Appleby, Jane Pirkis, Renske Gilissen, Andreas Reif, David Mais, Sarah A. Fortune, Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, Leo J. Roberts, Michael Robert Phillips, Lauren L. Moran, Eva De Jaegere, Petrana Brečić, Madelyn Schwartz Gould, Ping Qin, Paul Sasha Nestadt, Vladimir Carli, Michiko Ueda, Danuta Wasserman, Annette Erlangsen, Gwendolyn Portzky, Marko Ćurković, Marie‐Claude Geoffroy, Saška Roškar, Pablo Richly, Jennifer M. Dmetrichuk, Lai Fong Chan, Ann Mary John, Olivia J Kirtley, Barbara Schneider, Kairi Kõlves, Anna Baran, Herwig Oberlerchner, José Luís Ayuso‐Mateos, Michael J. C. Bray, Martín Agrest, Ella Arensman, Vikas Arya, Karen Scavacini, Mark Sinyor, Chittaranjan Behera, Guendalina Gentile, Christine Reif-Leonhard, Daniela Bonanno, S. M. Yasir Arafat, Stefano Tambuzzi, Mohsen Rezaeian, José Manoel Bertolote, Shane Randell, Eric D. Caine, Shu-Sen CHANG, Merete Nordentoft, Murad Khan, Madeleine Jaeger, Hye-In Hong, Puimee Bandara, Raihan Khamal Noor, Nancy Jong, Sangsoo Shin, Diego De Leo
article en
1 citations

Abstract

Abstract: Background: The cost-of-living crisis may be contributing to suicide rates, but this has not been adequately tested. Aims: We aimed to determine whether the cost-of-living crisis is associated with suicide rates in multiple countries and areas-within-countries. Method: We sourced country- and area-within-country-level monthly suicide data at a minimum from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022 (and at a maximum from January 1, 2016, to June 30, 2023), and population denominator and monthly headline consumer price index (CPI) data. We calculated the yearly change in inflation as the percentage change in CPI for one month versus the equivalent month in the previous year. We estimated associations between yearly change in inflation (lagged by one month) and suicide rates for each country and area-within-country, using autoregressive negative binomial regression. We summarized results using weighted means. Results: We obtained data on 1,372,994 suicides from 54 countries. At the country-level, for every 1.0% increase in yearly inflation in the previous month, there was an average 0.2% increase in suicide rates. The association was strongest in those aged 30–49 and 50–69; for every 1.0% increase in yearly inflation in the previous month, there were 0.3% and 0.6% increases in suicide rates for these age-groups, respectively. This pattern held for males in these age-groups, with increases of the same magnitude, and for females aged 50–69, with a 0.8% increase. At the area-within-country-level, the picture was even starker. Limitations: Study limitations include: the ecological design; the single measure of inflation; potential variations in suicide data quality; lack of representation by low-and-middle-income countries (LMICS); lack of availability of sex, age and sex/age breakdowns for some countries and areas-within-countries; and potential issues with multiple testing. Conclusions: There is an association between the cost-of-living crisis and suicide rates internationally. Public and social policies that improve people’s circumstances are critical.

Crisis
Brighton and Sussex Medical School (GB), Ministry of Health (MY), South African Medical Research Council (ZA), University of Peradeniya (LK), Goethe University Frankfurt (DE), Griffith University (AU), Aga Khan University (PK), Australian National University (AU), University of Primorska (SI), University of Copenhagen (DK), Brigham and Women's Hospital (US), The University of Sydney (AU), Sunnybrook Health Science Centre (CA), Australian Bureau of Statistics (AU), Office for National Statistics (GB), Harvard University (US), University Hospital Centre Zagreb (HR), University of Nottingham (GB), Innsbruck Medical University (AT), Johns Hopkins University (US), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (AR), University of Auckland (NZ), The University of Queensland (AU), The University of Melbourne (AU), National Taiwan University (TW), Public Health Agency of Canada (CA), University of Southern Denmark (DK), University of Zagreb (HR), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN), University of Oslo (NO), University of Toronto (CA), University of Canberra (AU), University of Milan (IT), Universität Innsbruck (AT), University of Washington (US), Linnaeus University (SE), Universidad de Buenos Aires (AR), University College Cork (IE), Hospital Kuala Lumpur (MY), Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US), Johns Hopkins Medicine (US), Korea Foundation (KR), Mental Health Services (DK), Waikato Hospital (NZ), Puerto Rico Department of Health (PR), Government of Newfoundland and Labrador (CA), Shanghai Mental Health Center (CN), Karolinska Institutet (SE), University of Manchester (GB), University of Rochester Medical Center (US), Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (US), UNSW Sydney (AU), Ghent University (BE), Universidad de Antioquia (CO), University of Bristol (GB), Swansea University (GB), Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI), University of Oxford (GB), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (ES), Behavioral Pharma (United States) (US), World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe (DK), Danish National Institute of Public Health (DK), National University of the West (AR), Universidad de Las Américas (EC), World Health Organization - Denmark (DK), Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (DE), Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (CA), Federico II University Hospital (IT), National Institute of Public Health (SI), University Hospital Leipzig (DE), Mersey Care NHS Trust (GB), University Hospital Frankfurt (DE), Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (ES), LVR-Klinik Köln (DE), Wan Fang Hospital (TW), Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío (ES), Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz (MX), South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration (LK), National Institute of Mental Health (JP), University of Klagenfurt (AT), National Institute of Mental Health (CZ), Instituto Vita Alere (BR), Karlstad University (SE), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Hospital Universitario de La Princesa (ES), Danish Research Institute for Suicide Prevention (DK), Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario (CA), 113 Zelfmoordpreventie (NL), University of Warsaw (PL), Taipei Medical University (TW), McGill University (CA), University of Rochester (US), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (ES), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (IN), University of Milano-Bicocca (IT), Syracuse University (US), University of Naples Federico II (IT), Public Health Foundation of India (IN), Medical University of Vienna (AT), University of Glasgow (GB), Universidad de Sevilla (ES), Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences (IR), Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) (BR), National University of Malaysia (MY), KU Leuven (BE)
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Suicide and Self-Harm Studies
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