Suicide mortality in Belgium from the 19th to the 20th century: a spatiotemporal approach to the impact of economic and political crises

This article studies suicide mortality and the impact of crises in Belgium between the 19th and 20th centuries, using a spatio-temporal approach. The goal was to observe how economic and political crises impacted suicide mortality in Belgium at the district level from 1888 to 1949. The main results showed differences between men and women, the former being more affected by suicide and during crisis than the latter. An age effect has also been demonstrated, with older women being more affected by economic crises. We have also shown that widowed or divorced people commit suicide more often than married or single people. We also looked at occupations but found no clear evidence of their impact on suicides. At the spatial level, we have shown different trends between districts, with a greater impact of crises on suicide in the most urbanised and industrialised districts.