Municipal-level determinants of suicide rates in South Korea: exploring the role of social capital and local government policies

ABSTRACT

This study investigates social and economic factors influencing suicide rates in 231 South Korean cities, counties, and districts from 2010 to 2015. The results of a panel data analysis indicate that the number of social organizations did not have a significant effect on suicide rates; however, among six types of social organizations, social/recreational organizations showed a strong negative impact on suicide rates, suggesting that not all social organizations equally created social capital that addresses community health problems. Moreover, poverty and income are two strong predictors of municipal-level suicide rates, but municipal governments’ welfare spending was only effective in rural areas.

KEYWORDS:

• Social capital
• suicide rate
• mental health
• South Korea
• municipal governments

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juheon Lee

Juheon Lee is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at Northeastern University, Boston, USA. His research interests include social capital, community resilience, environmental politics, identity politics, and East Asian politics.