Unemployment increases suicide risk

The Press Association - July 28, 2003

Unemployed men and women are up to three times more likely to commit suicide than those with jobs, research has revealed.

Not being married, having fewer academic qualifications and a lower household income also increased the risk of suicide, according to a report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

Researchers studied more than two million people living in New Zealand, basing their findings on the 1991 census, with suicides tracked over the following three years. They found that unemployed men and women aged 25 to 44, and 45-64-year-old men were two to three times more likely to kill themselves as their counterparts who had jobs.

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