COVID-19, unemployment, and suicide

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the introduction of strong restrictive measures that are having a substantial effect on the global economy, including an increase in the unemployment rate worldwide.1 In a previous study,2 we modelled the effect of unemployment on suicide on the basis of global public data from 63 countries, and we observed that suicide risk was elevated by 20–30% when associated with unemployment during 2000–11 (including the 2008 economic crisis). We have now used this model to predict the effects of the currently expected rise in the unemployment rate on suicide rates.