[OC] Suicide Rate vs GDP per capita for various countries. Notice that the upper right triangle is almost empty i.e. generally increase in GDP per capita results in decrease in suicide rates.Charizard3535 t1_isc01fm wrote
GDP per capita is a really bad metric. There are a lot of places that have companies that make a lot but the general public does not benefit from that money.
ankuprk OP t1_isc0mni wrote
Yeah it's definitely not perfect, doesn't account for income inequality at all. If you have a suggestion for a better metric (data for which is available publicly) let me know, I will share another plot using that. Would be interesting to compare it with this one.
HZCH t1_ischw46 wrote
It wouldn’t account for inequalities as much as somehow using the Gini metric, and I’m no statistician, but how about using the median income - if there are enough sources…
iinavpov t1_iseapge wrote
Log GDP, for one thing is much better: going from 1 to 5 dollars a day is life changing. From 100 to 105 is nothing.
For another, you can multiply this by 1/gini as a proxy for how many people really benefit.
navicitizen t1_isefbvo wrote
Account also for number of sunny days or hours per country instead of GDP.
General-Syrup t1_iseg6ae wrote
It wouldn’t be one metric I’d like to see cause of death outside of Suicide. As some countries don’t report them the same.
WhileMyDreamsDecay t1_isea4lg wrote
Data envelope analysis might work. Outlier points furthest from the axis are Singapore, USA, South Korea and Guyana.
Kiribati has only 100k population so 30 suicides per year is terrible
Miguel7501 t1_isc2oc3 wrote
But then again it shows that there's a clear trend even without accounting for inequality.
BaronVonCrunch t1_isc43dc wrote
Does it, though? There are only nine countries with the GDP per capita to even potentially make the upper right quadrant. And those nine countries appear (eyeballing it) to average somewhere around the median for suicide rates.
Desperate poverty certainly seems to significantly elevate suicide risks in some places, but at higher income levels it seems to hover around a fairly median level. It doesn’t appear that the correlation is super strong beyond a few outliers.
It is extraordinarily difficult to find a consistent causal factor for suicide. For each potential factor - income, economic opportunity, family life, rural vs urban, etc - there are some regions that seem to fit the hypothesis, but there are many others that completely confound it.
Deuteronomious t1_isc9phk wrote
I agree that it doesn't really show correlation. It is just a Gaussian distribution at around 6-10 suicides per 100,000 and all countries on the far right are just richer but they don't seem to have significantly lower suicide rates. The upper right quadrant is empty because only five countries in total out of 200 have a high enough suicide rate to be in the upper half and none of these are one of the richest nine in the world
DoobieBrotherhood t1_isdedqo wrote
I mean, if you draw a line of best fit for the data, then it definitely shows a correlation. Just because it doesn’t form a perfect curve doesn’t negate the correlation.
100dylan99 t1_iscd9bh wrote
What is the trend? I do not see any trends whatsover. It seems like there is zero correlation. Most countries are between 0 and 20 GDP pc and 0-20 suicides pc.
Morpheus_MD t1_iscvqhk wrote
Singapore, Qatar, and good old tax-haven Ireland all at the far right of the graph bear this out.
actual_lettuc t1_isddxny wrote
good to know about tax haven ireland
PNKRTN t1_isc0gko wrote
Is median income a good alternative in this context?
[deleted] t1_isdw7pu wrote
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100dylan99 t1_iscc9ug wrote
No, there aren't.
It seems you're Canadian from your profile. If that's the case, then you literally do not have a frame of reference or ability to even know what being poor in a poor nation is like. You live in a country with one of the highest standards of living in the world. If you're talking about the US, please -- just shut up.
You should find a source, or stop sharing such silly, ignorant, and offensive opinions. GDP is well known by economists to correlate extremely well with almost every positive metric. Is it perfect? No. Does it explain every possible thing? Not at all. Is it objective, relatively easy to measure, and highly correlative with postiive results on a global and historical scale? Yes. This is objectively true and is seen in just about every GDP regression done by people who know what they're doing.
Side note - GDP should almost always be logarithmic. Nominal GDP is not nearly as meaningful.
Scottyknoweth t1_iscl49f wrote
I agree with most of what you say but would caution that just because they live in Canada doesn't mean they don't have a frame of reference. I live in the US and have spent a cumulative 3 years living in some of the poorest countries on the planet.
This has definitely opened my eyes to the plights of those in actual poverty.
I get where you are coming from in general, though, and agree that GDP/capita is a poor metric.
[deleted] t1_isdzyy3 wrote
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Clemenx00 t1_iscqac4 wrote
Sheltered 1st worlders here in Reddit love to parrot "muh inequality" to pretend they are poor at a global scale. Can't help but roll my eyes every time as someone from an actual poor country.
josephbenitoadolf t1_iscuu7z wrote
People cant complain about inequality unless they're from a poor country? TIL ...
DoobieBrotherhood t1_isdeh4l wrote
Seems to be a common belief among the youngsters today that you can only have an opinion if you meet random conditions.
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