THE ESSENTIAL
- The risk of suicide is highest on Monday and increases on New Year’s Day, according to a new study in 26 countries.
- This phenomenon could be due to distress caused by work pressure at the start of a week and higher rates of alcohol consumption before and on New Year’s Day as well as on weekends.
- For researchers, their work could help improve awareness campaigns and the care of suicidal people.
Researchers urge caution. After studying suicide data from 26 countries over nearly four decades, they found that people are more likely to commit suicide on Mondays than any day of the week. An increase in acts of violence is also observed on New Year’s Day.
Suicide risks: watch out for Mondays and New Years
For this large study on suicide, researchers analyzed the circumstances of 1.7 million suicides that occurred in 26 countries around the world between 1971 and 2019. Among all these nations observed, South Korea, Japan, South Africa and Estonia had the highest suicide rates. The lowest were recorded in the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay.
While the number of people taking their own lives varies from country to country, data shows that Monday is the day of the week with the highest risk of suicide. Between 15% and 18% of suicides take place on this day. A sharp increase in the risk of suicide was also observed on New Year’s Day in most countries.
Another difference highlighted during this study: while the risk of suicide was lower during weekends in many countries in North America, Asia and Europe, it increased in countries in South America. South and central as well as Finland and South Africa.
Suicide: more targeted awareness campaigns
Why are suicides more numerous on Mondays and New Year’s Day? Although the researchers did not identify specific causes during their work, they put forward several factors to explain the phenomenon: higher professional anxiety at the start of the week, alcohol consumption during the weekend or the work period. parties and social isolation during the end of the year.
“Of note, our study showed that men who committed suicide were more affected by the day of the week and New Year’s Day than women. These gender differences may also be associated with disparities in social capital and susceptibility to isolation by gender”write the authors.
While additional research is needed to better understand the mechanisms at play, the team still notes that these results can help “to define action plans for suicide prevention and awareness campaigns” better targeted.
