Study: Suicide rate high among austerity-hit Britons
A new study shows the suicide rate is on the rise among Britons struggling with debt, austerity and unemployment.
Researchers from Bristol, Manchester and Oxford universities have found an extra 1,000 death from suicide and an additional 40,000 suicide attempts following the 2008 economic downturn. Debt, austerity and unemployment have been cited as significant factors in the rising number of British deaths, they said.
“In a recession, all sorts of things happen,” said David Gunnell, professor of epidemiology at the University of Bristol.
“People lose their jobs, the government makes decisions about where to make cuts. There has been a series of changes over last three or four years, such as the bedroom tax, benefit changes. The austerity measures are ongoing; with the current debate around tax credits. Unemployment is not the whole story,” Gunnell said.
In the course of the research, Gunnell interviewed different age group of people and found that many Britons were heartbroken for not finding a job.
According to figures compiled by the mental health charity Campaign Against Living Miserably, 4,623 men of all ages committed suicide in 2014, the equivalent of more than 12 deaths a day.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics, published in February, showed a significant reversal in previously falling male suicide rates in England since 2007.
In 2013 the rate of male suicides was more than three times higher than the female rate, which has stayed relatively constant over the years and is consistently lower than those for men.
The latest research funded by the National Institute for Health Research follows a series of warnings from politicians and mental health campaigners over struggling mental health services. The analysis of the research is aimed at preventing suicide and improving the care of those who harm themselves.
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