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

ELI5: Most of that money isn’t out-of-pocket; it’s largely theoretical, like the loss of future earnings.

>More on this:

First of all, those are incorrect figures.

Suicides and suicide attempts amount to [$58.4 billion](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26511788/) annually, 97% of which is indirect costs like lost productivity.

Ambulance services, police investigation, hospital, physician, autopsy, funeral and cremation are direct costs. If it is attempted suicide, but not completed, other costs may include counselling, rehabilitation and drug treatments.

Indirect costs are productivity losses that society must bear over time; they can be thought of as discounted future earnings due to potential years of life lost.

https://www.suicideinfo.ca/resource/economicsofsuicide/