How Income Level Affects Suicide Rate

Research Proposal
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Policy Puzzle
Learning how income level affects the suicide rate can help develop effective strategies for suicide prevention. The strain is a severe problem in many countries (Cai et al., 2020). Hence, comprehending the link between it and income level is necessary for designing practical prevention strategies. The first motivation to learn about this topic is to understand suicide itself better. Suicide is a complex phenomenon, and learning how it is associated with income level can help me acknowledge how the latter triggers it. This knowledge will allow me to know the best prevention strategies in different contexts. The second motivation to learn about this topic is to comprehend the impact of poverty and inequality on mental health.
Studies have shown that low-income levels are associated with high suicide rates (Bachmann, 2018). This knowledge highlights the importance of addressing economic disparities and inequality to reduce suicide rates. The third motivation to know about this topic is to understand better the potential methods that can be used to reduce suicide rates. Suicide prevention strategies must be tailored to the context, and understanding the link between suicide and income level is essential in designing more effective models (Arafat & Kabir, 2017). For example, it becomes easier to identify areas where targeted interventions are needed to reduce suicide rates.
Literature Review
A case-control study conducted in 2001 examined the link between income level and the threat of suicide among individuals admitted to hospitals with mental illness. The research found that low income was related to a high risk of suicide. It concluded that people with mental illness, especially those economically disadvantaged, had an increased risk of suicide. This suggests that interventions should be tailored to address this disparity (Agerbo et al., 2001). Additionally, the research highlighted the need for increased awareness among clinicians of the potential increased threat of suicide among people from low-income backgrounds.
Another research examined the global shifts in suicide cases and numbers between 1990 and 2019. It evaluated them through demographic and epidemiological decomposition analysis. The World Health Organization (WHO) data was used to measure global suicide mortality cases. The decomposition analysis results showed that between 1990 and 2019, the global suicide mortality rate decreased by 0.71%, while the number of deaths due to suicide increased by 24.2% (Yip et al., 2022). The analysis suggested that the decrease in mortality cases was mainly linked to population aging. At the same time, the rise in suicide deaths was primarily attributed to the population rise. The study concluded that interventions to prevent suicide should focus on population growth and the associated changes in the age structure of populations.
The other study was conducted to highlight the global income distribution and examine how polarized it is. This analysis employed a new method for estimating the Gini coefficient, a commonly used measure of inequality (Roope et al., 2018). The evaluation results showed that the global income distribution is highly polarized, with the Gini index around 0.72. Furthermore, the authors found that the global income distribution is significantly more unequal than the country-level income distribution. This idea suggests that interventions to reduce inequality should focus on international rather than national-level approaches.
Another meta-analysis and systematic research examined the threat of suicide and attempts among people dwelling in four high-income English-speaking countries. The study included a total of 72 studies, and the data from those studies were pooled to allow for a comparison of suicide risks across countries (Barry et al., 2020). The results showed that people living in rural locations had a significantly higher threat of suicide deaths and attempts than those in urban areas. The results also showed that the level of risk varied by country, with the highest risk witnessed in the U.S. and the lowest in Canada. The implications from this research indicate differences in the risk of suicide attempts and death by suicide across high-income countries and that rural living may be a threat factor for suicide.
The other article updates suicide cases in China between 2002 and 2011. The authors analyzed data from the China National Mortality Registry for 11 years, from 2002-2011. The results showed that the crude suicide rate in China declined from 15.7 per 100,000 in 2002 to 11.4 in 2011, with a corresponding drop in the adjusted rate from 15.1 to 10.2 (Wang et al., 2014). The study also depicted that suicide cases were higher in rural places, with rates for the rural population more than twice as high as those of urban people. In addition, the authors detected that the suicide rate for males was consistently higher than the case for females and that the highest rate of suicide was found among those aged 40-59. The authors suggest that further research should focus on understanding and preventing suicide in this population.
A material examines the suicide rates among individuals of different income levels in South Korea between 2003 and 2013. The authors use data from the Korean National Health Insurance Corporation to analyze the suicide rates and assess any potential correlations between income and suicide. These researchers found that the overall suicide rate in South Korea decreased throughout the study period, from 24.2 suicides per 100,000 in 2003 to 17.2 suicides per 100,000 in 2013. They also found that the suicide rate was highest among those in the lowest income bracket, with 33.4 suicides per 100,000 in 2003 and 26.2 suicides per 100,000 in 2013 (Lee et al., 2017).
In contrast, the suicide rate for those in the highest income bracket was much lower, at 16.2 suicides per 100,000 in 2003 and 8.9 suicides per 100,000 in 2013. The authors also analyzed the age-standardized suicide cases, which accounted for the age differences between the different income groups. They found that the age-standardized suicide rate was highest among those in the lowest income bracket, with 33.6 suicides per 100,000 in 2003 and 27.1 suicides in every 100,000 in 2013. In contrast, the suicide cases for those in the highest income bracket were much lower, at 15.9 suicides per 100,000 in 2003 and 8.5 suicides per 100,000 in 2013.
Another analysis examined suicide and poverty research in middle and low-income countries, relying on English-published literature. It begins with a summary of a systematic literature review's findings. This model found that poverty and suicide are strongly correlated and that social stressors such as unemployment and family breakdown are essential factors in suicide (Bantjes et al., 2016). The study then proposes a research agenda for further research into this topic. Researchers discuss the need for research that accounts for the complex context in which suicide occurs and suggest that analysis should take a multidisciplinary approach. This means that research should involve different disciplines, such as sociology, psychology, economics, and public health, to understand better the factors contributing to suicide. The authors also suggest that research should focus on developing interventions that address the underlying causes of suicide in low- and middle-income countries.
The study also reveals that the current research on suicide and poverty in low- and middle-income nations is limited and suggests that further research is required ...