Economy
Suicides Related to Foreclosure and Eviction Doubled During the Housing Crisis
A new report makes plain some of the grim results of housing-related stressors, and suggests practices that could save lives.
Suicides in America continue to creep upward. Between 2003 and 2013, the rate of deaths caused by suicide climbed from just shy of 11 per 100,000 residents to 13.* Suicide rates rose for every age cohort in the U.S. over that time span. In 2013, more people between the ages of 25 and 74 died by their own hands than died in automobile crashes.
In 2010, just as the U.S. was beginning to climb out of the global financial crisis, suicide was the second-leading cause of death for adults aged 25 to 34 in the U.S., and the fourth-leading cause of death for adults aged 35 to 54. With the Great Recession behind us, public health officials are now trying to measure the toll of the housing crisis in terms of lost life and psychological distress.