Recalculating the Economic Cost of Suicide

Abstract

These authors argue that estimates of the net economic cost of suicide should go beyond accounting for direct medical costs and indirect costs from loss of earnings by those who commit suicide. There are potential savings from (a) not having to treat the depressive and other psychiatric disorders of those who kill themselves; (b) avoidance of pension, social security and nursing home care costs; and (c) assisted-suicide. By combining all of these costs and savings, it is concluded that the net economic cost of the 30,906 completed suicides in 1990 entailed an economic gain for the society of roughly $5.07 billion in year—2005 dollars. This calculation does not include estimated costs due to the psychological pain and suffering of the survivors. Suicide should be prevented based on humane considerations, not on the economic cost involved.

Notes

¹Conversion to 2005 estimates was done using www.stats.bls.gov.

²We thank Joseph Currie, Francis Horner, and Patricia McGann for providing us with these data.

³Accessed September 16, 2006.

⁴Ninety-one percent of those who completed suicide in San Diego (Rich, Young, & Fowler, 1986), and 93% of those who completed suicide in England (Barraclough, 1987) were judged to be psychiatrically disturbed.