Austerity measures are often seen as not being very good for the mental health of people. University of Portsmouth reported, male suicides are on the rise as result of austerity. There have been increasing numbers of young men between the ages of 10 and 24 who have committed suicide as a direct result of austerity measures brought in across Europe in the aftermath of the 2009 recession.
There have been more males of all ages committing suicide in the poorest countries in the Eurozone according to researchers from the University of Portsmouth and Webster Vienna University. Dr Nikolaos Antonakakis and Professor Alan Collins have been encouraging policy makers to place the health of European citizens before wealth as a matter of extreme urgency. This has been the first research which has investigated the direct impact which fiscal austerity has had on suicide rates in the group of countries which were most affected by the Eurozone crisis, including Greece, Italy, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal.
Dr Antonakakis, who is a visiting Fellow at Portsmouth Business School and an Associate Professor at Webster Vienna University, has said that the debt crisis in the Eurozone is turning into a health crisis. In response to the global financial crisis and the subsequent Eurozone debt crisis austerity measures were implemented in an effort to restore confidence, competitiveness and economic stability. Nevertheless there remains bleak prospects in some countries.
The researchers have found that unemployment is one of the primary causes of suicides among youth in the Eurozone nations. There has been a significant increase in overall rates of suicide due to unemployment in men between the ages of 10 and 24. Dr Antonakakis feels that these figures are cause for alarm. Due to an increase in youth unemployment in the Eurozone countries there has been a drastic increase in suicide mortality.
This research has been published in the journal Social Science & Medicine. There has been a causal relationship between fiscal austerity and suicide observed. Many governments adopted austerity policies which made the recession far deeper and longer than necessary. This has resulted in long-lasting consequences for wealth and health.
Dr Antonakakis says that because economic and social policy decisions have significant effects on health and its fair distribution health equity should perhaps be given consideration as an important measure of the effectiveness of social and economic policy making. Clearly social and economic policy making have been failing miserably in the Eurozone countries therefore leading to increases in suicides. This is a tragic problem which should be confronted.
