New Samaritans report: ‘The economic cost of suicide in the UK’

Samaritans have launched a new report, The economic cost of suicide in the UK, demonstrating the significant impact suicide has on the UK economy.

Every death by suicide is a tragedy. It’s been estimated that 135 people are affected every time someone takes their life. Suicide affects the whole of society – reaching families, communities, employment, health care, coroners and more.

Samaritans worked with David McDaid (Associate Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics) to work out how much suicide costs to society. These are the first figures published on the cost of suicide in over a decade.

The research team found that in the UK in 2022:

• Suicide had an overall cost of at least £9.58 billion
• Each death by suicide cost an average of £1.46 million

Samaritans have written a blog with a summary of the findings, and the full report can be downloaded here.