Study finds clear link
between spending cuts and rise in number of men who killed themselves between
2009 and 2010.
According to the research, every 1% fall in
government spending in Greece led to a 0.43% rise in suicides among men - after
controlling for other characteristics that might lead to suicide, 551 men
killed themselves "solely because of fiscal austerity" between 2009
and 2010, said the paper's co-author Nikolaos Antonakakis.
"That is almost one person per day.
Given that in 2010 there were around two suicides in Greece per day, it appears
50% were due to austerity," he said. Antonakakis, a Greek economics
lecturer, said he had been prompted to look into a potential link between
austerity and suicide rates after media stories and reports of friends of
friends dying from suicide.
Although there had been studies into the
health effects of negative economic growth, there was a gap when it came
specifically to spending cuts and health, he said. Antonakakis and his
co-author, economics professor Alan Collins, said they were surprised at how
many suicides appeared linked to austerity and how clear the connection was.
There was also a clear gender divide in the
effects of austerity with no obvious rise in female suicide rates, according to
the research published in the journal Social Science and Medicine. Men aged
45-89 faced the highest suicide risk in response to austerity because they were
most likely to suffer cuts to their salaries and pensions, the research said.
Antonakakis and Collins are considering work
on the link between austerity and suicide rates in other countries most
affected by the eurozone crisis, such as Spain, Portugal, Italy and Ireland. "These
findings have strong implications for policymakers and for health
agencies," said Antonakakis. "We often talk about the fiscal
multiplier effect of austerity, such as what it does to GDP. But what is the
health multiplier?
We have to consider the health multipliers
of any fiscal consolidation and austerity. The fact we find gender specificity
and age specificity can help health agencies target their help." Political
economist David Stuckler and physician-epidemiologist Sanjay Basu pointed to
soaring suicide rates, rising HIV infections and even a malaria outbreak in
their book The Body Economic: Why Austerity Kills, published last year. But
they argued that such costs were not inevitable and that, in some countries,
countermeasures such as active labour market schemes had softened the blow from
cuts.
In Greece, however, HIV infection rose by
more than 200% from 2011 as prevention budgets were cut and intravenous drug
use grew as youth unemployment reached 50%. Greece also experienced its first
malaria outbreak in decades after budget cuts to mosquito-spraying, the authors
said.
In the UK, official statistics released in
February showed that suicide rates for 2012 had changed little from 2011 but
remained significantly higher than five years earlier.
The Samaritans charity said that, despite
the economic recovery, many people were still very worried about money, jobs
and housing, and that one in six calls to its service were about financial
worries. That compares with one in 10 in 2008.
Its research has shown that disadvantaged
men in mid-life are at higher risk of suicide. Men in the lowest socio-economic
group living in the most deprived areas are approximately 10 times more likely
to die by suicide than men from higher socio-economic backgrounds, living in
the most affluent areas.
Responding to the research on Greece, a
Samaritans spokesman said: "There is a well-established link between
unemployment and suicide, which tends to increase during economic recession,
particularly where it's not offset by welfare safety nets.
"The fact that disadvantaged people
have shorter lives, live with physical and mental health problems and are more
likely to die by suicide are inequities that demand a response by services such
as Samaritans. As the nation's listening ear, we'd like to remind people
struggling to cope that we will continue to be here for anybody who needs
someone to listen to them.
(Source: theguardian.com)
