Suicide is very tricky. Actually can go up when people “have more time/ability to “be depressed”” vs “fighting for their families survival”.
The data during that specific period is also difficult to understand since before the Great Recession suicides were going up in the US but down in Europe so the background noise was complex for that “natural experiment.
Still, having said that - countries with best/largest social security nets like Sweden and Austria did NOT have an increase in suicides during the Great Recession
Looking to recent history, two countries have previously broken this link: Sweden, between 1991 and 1992, and Finland, between 1990 and 1993, both experienced substantial rises in unemployment concurrent with reductions in suicide.
Reference Stuckler, Basu, Suhrcke, Coutts and McKee
1 In the present recession, Sweden again exhibited no marked increase in total suicide rates.
Economic suicides in the Great Recession in Europe and North America | The British Journal of Psychiatry | Cambridge Core?
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Some other quick things from papers on the general topic
We comprehensively review empirical literature examining the relationship between the Recession and mental and physical health outcomes in developed nations.
Overall, studies reported detrimental impacts of the Recession on health
Macro- and individual-level employment- and housing-related sequelae of the Recession were associated with declining fertility and self-rated health, and increasing morbidity, psychological distress, and suicide
Health impacts were stronger among men and racial/ethnic minorities.
***Importantly, strong social safety nets in some European countries appear to have buffered those populations from negative health effects. ***
In the United State (U.S.), the Recession disproportionately impacted already marginalized populations. Non-Hispanic blacks (NHB), Hispanics, and those with less than a college education suffered disproportionately high unemployment compared to other groups, due in part to their greater representation in the hard-hit construction and manufacturing industries [7, 8]. Availability of subprime credit and discriminatory lending also led to higher foreclosure rates for NHBs and Hispanics and in poor and minority communities [9].
Exposure to labor and housing market recessionary factors may have differed substantially across nations due to social, political, or cultural differences [4].
The effect on health is thus likely to vary across countries based on demographic trends, social safety nets, and healthcare systems.
The housing crisis appears to have had a detrimental impact on mental health—above and beyond impacts related to unemployment or financial strain—particularly in the U.S.
Importantly, stronger safety nets in some European countries may have buffered their populations against negative health impacts of the economic downturn or limited the widening of inequalities, a finding with strong policy implications for the U.S. [44, 91].
