About one million people (in US) attempt suicide a year and cost the nation $500 billion. How is this cost calculated and why is this figure so high ($500,000) for each attempt?

Question

About one million people (in US) attempt suicide a year and cost the nation $500 billion. How is this cost calculated and why is this figure so high ($500,000) for each attempt?

In: 221

Answer 1

> why is this figure so high ($500,000) for each attempt?

Most people who kill themselves do so young.

Young people are expensive for the taxpayer to raise, and won’t themselves have paid much tax back into the system.

So if they die, its a net loss to the taxpayer

Its also a loss to any private enterprise to whom they owed money, as that debt will probably be more than the worth of their estate, so would be written off.