China’s first-of-its-kind study linking suicide rates to air quality is an ‘urgent’ call for global policies

Nationwide study shows causal relationship between air quality improvements and suicide rates

Policymakers should consider how many lives are saved when measuring the cost-benefits of air treatment, researchers say

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Chinese researchers have provided strong evidence of a causal link between air pollution and suicide rates, a study they hope sparks stronger environmental policies around the world. Photo: AP

Published: 8:00pm, 12 Mar 2024

The researchers behind a first-of-its-kind nationwide study that has directly linked cleaner air to lower suicide rates say they hope their analysis will inspire future environmental policymaking around the world.

“It may seem counterintuitive, but our research confirms that there is indeed a causal relationship among the two and that improved air quality has played an important role in reducing suicide rates in China,” Zhang Peng, a researcher at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s school of management and economics, and co-lead author of the study, said on Monday.

Zhang and his collaborators estimated that China’s battle against particulate pollution – especially the fine particulates of less than 2.5 microns known as PM2.5 – had prevented around 46,000 deaths by suicide in the country between 2013 and 2017, accounting for about 10 per cent of the observed decline in suicide rates over that period.

The study, involving mostly researchers from China, was published last month in the journal Nature Sustainability, “adds urgency to calls for pollution control policies across the globe”, the authors said.

Zhang said the impact of the environment on health and human capital was a growing area of interest in disciplines such as public health and economics.

While the focus of research has often been on physical health problems related to respiratory or cardiovascular systems such as asthma, experts have begun to realise that environmental factors can affect mental health – including suicides – as well as cognitive development.

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