Study finds: suicide risk rises on Mondays and New Year's Day

An international team of researchers analysed short-term changes in suicide risk associated with days of the week and national holidays and found interesting patterns. The study involved 740 locations from 26 countries and territories, covering periods from 1971 to 2019. A total of 1,701,286 suicides were recorded.

Mondays are a high-risk day

Analysis of the data showed that Mondays had the highest risk of suicide among weekdays in all countries. The relative risk (compared to Wednesday) ranged from 1.02 in Costa Rica to 1.17 in Chile. This may be related to the start of the working week and the return to daily stresses after the weekend.

Weekends: risk varies by country

In most countries in North America, Asia and Europe, the risk of suicide decreased on Saturdays and Sundays. In contrast, however, countries in South and Central America, as well as Finland and South Africa, saw an increase in risk at weekends. This points to cultural and social differences in the perception of the weekend and its impact on people's psychological well-being.

New Year's Eve is a time of increased risk

There was a particularly marked increase in suicide risk on New Year's Day. In most countries, the relative risk ranged from 0.93 in Japan to 1.93 in Chile. This may be due to heightened expectations, taking stock of the year and emotional stress during this period.

Christmas and other holidays

For Christmas, the data was less clear-cut, and no strong evidence of increased risk was found. In most cases, other national holidays had a slightly decreased risk of suicide. The exception was in Central and South America, where the risk increased one or two days after the holidays.