Suicide and unemployment

Background

In 2007-2009, the world economy was hit hard by the economic crisis. This led to rising unemployment in most western countries. In Denmark, gross unemployment rose from 2.6% in 2008 to 6.1% in 2010. In 2012, unemployment was 6.0%, while in 2014 it was 5.0%.

Foreign studies have shown a statistical correlation between unemployment and the incidence of suicide. But it is unclear whether there is a direct association between the economic crisis in 2008, unemployment and a change in the incidence of suicide in Denmark. It is therefore of interest to shed light on whether the economic crisis and unemployment have resulted in an increase in the number of suicides in Denmark.

Purpose

The purpose of this project is to evaluate the trend in suicide in the period 2001-2016, and thus shed light on whether the risk of suicide was the same during the financial crisis in 2009-2016 as before the crisis 2001-2008 and investigate whether there was an association between unemployment and suicide.

Method

Analysis of data from the Register of Suicides and Statistics Denmark.

Status

Ended May 2021 with international article Recession and risk of suicide in Denmark during the 2009 global financial crisis: an ecological register-based study.

The project is conducted by the Centre for Suicide Research.

Contact

For further information, please contact Academic Associate, MSc. Agnieszka Konieczna on email agko@cfsmail.dk.

This page was last updated at 11/08/2021