The United States, Europe and Canada all experienced an uptick in suicides between the years of 2007 and 2010 due to the global economic recession period, according to a study by researchers at the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
The number of suicides hit at least 10,000 between North America and Europe during the recession, states the report. Europe experienced a 6.5 percent jump by 2009 and remained at that level for two years, while the U.S. saw a 4.8 percent spike in the three-year time period and Canada's suicide rate jumped 4.5 percent.
The study was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, and researchers attribute the increased suicide figures to debt woes, job loss and people losing their homes during the recession years.
"The first thing we need to do is try and understand what exactly is driving this rise," Aaron Reeves, the lead researcher and a sociologist at the University of Oxford, told NPR.
The Great Depression saw suicide rates jumping from 14 to 17 of every 100,000 U.S. residents.
"There has been a substantial rise in suicides during the recession, greater than we would have anticipated based on previous trends," said Reeves. "A critical question for policy and psychiatric practice is whether suicide rises are inevitable."
The research team analyzed financial and business data, as well as consumer spending during the recession years. According to Bloomberg News the economy experienced a contraction of 1.9 percent from the end of 2007 to the final three months in 2008. Consumer spending dropped 1.8 percent at the end of 2008.
The research team also reviewed World Health Organization suicide data covering 24 EU countries and two North American countries.
"This study shows that rising suicides have not been observed everywhere, so while recessions will continue to hurt, they don't always cause self-harm," said Reeves in a statement.
As Tech Times recently reported, the recession years also had an impact on the health of U.S. residents.
The 2008 global recession, considered to be one of the most severe economic crises that affected many countries worldwide, apparently had a negative effective on the health of people in rich nations as obesity rates were found to have increased in many developed countries over the past five years of economic downturn.
An economic report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development revealed that the obesity rate had climbed by up to 3 percent in Australia, Switzerland, France and Mexico but remained fairly stable or only grown moderately in Unites States, Canada, England, Italy, Korea and Spain.
"Regardless of their income or wealth, people who experience periods of financial hardship are at increased risk of obesity, and the increase is greater for more severe and recurrent hardship," the report reads (pdf). "The evidence of a possible impact of the economic crisis on obesity points rather consistently to a likely increase in body weight and obesity."
