Researchers believe the 2008 economic crisis may be to blame for higher suicide rates, especially in males.
The findings were relevant in both the U.S. and Europe, and were most prevalent in countries with a high rate of job loss, a Bristol University press release reported.
The study looked at international suicide trends using data from 54 countries. They started with data from the year 2000 to avoid interference from the economic recession in the early 1990s and the crisis in Asia in the late 90s. The data was also categorized by age group.
In 2009 there was a dramatic 37 percent rise in unemployment and three percent drop in GDP in per capita. The suicide rate in men went up 3.3 percent, with about 5,000 male suicides a year in each country included in the study.
In Europe, the largest increase in suicide was seen in men between the ages of 15 and 24, American men ages 45 to 65 were more likely to take their own lives.
"Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania and Solvenia," saw the largest increase in suicide within Europe, averaging at about a 13.3 percent increase.
The U.S. and Canada had about an 8.9 percent increase while the Caribbean and Central American countries saw a 6.4 percent increase in male suicides.
The spike in suicide rates appeared to be connected to a similar rise in unemployment, and the correlation was strongest in areas that had low "pre-crisis unemployment levels."
The study shows a "marked rise in suicide following the 2008 global economic crisis," according to the researchers.
Researchers believe the finding may not show the full gravity of the situation, and is "likely to be an underestimate of the true global impact of the economic crisis on suicide," the press release reported.
For every one suicide about 30 to 40 people attempt to take their own lives unsuccessfully, these instances were not taken into account in the study.
