Unemployed people pose 70% greater risk of suicide, conference hears

JOBLESS people are three times more likely than those in employment to take their own lives, the Irish Association of Suicidology annual conference was told yesterday.

Keynote speaker Stephen Platt, professor of Health Policy Research at the University of Edinburgh, said the financial crisis was likely to have a detrimental affect on mental health.

He said research showed that even in cases where no serious mental health has been recorded, there was a 70% greater chance of an unemployed person dying by suicide.