Fatal Fallout from Financial Failure: Economic Woes in Asia Heralded Increases in Suicide Rates

Bower, Bruce, Science News

When an economy goes bad in a hurry, lives aren't just ruined--tragically, they're sometimes lost. A currency collapse that spread across much of Asia from July 1997 to January 1998 was closely related to an abrupt upsurge in suicide rates in economically devastated Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, a new study finds.

Compared with 1997, suicide rates in those places rose in 1998 by around 40 percent for men and 20 percent for women, reports a group led by psychiatrist Shu-Sen Chang of the University of Bristol in England. That translates to about 10,400 more suicides in 1998 than in the preceding year, the researchers conclude in a paper published online February 4 in Social …

Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information: Article title: Fatal Fallout from Financial Failure: Economic Woes in Asia Heralded Increases in Suicide Rates. Contributors: Bower, Bruce - Author. Magazine title: Science News. Volume: 175. Issue: 6 Publication date: March 14, 2009. Page number: 12. © 2009 Science Service, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2009 Gale Group.

This material is protected by copyright and, with the exception of fair use, may not be further copied, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means.