Study finds agricultural workers 34% more likely to die by suicide than general working-age population

A recently published study found that agricultural workers are an estimated 34% more likely to die from suicide than the total working-age population. The researchers sought to better discern suicide risk among rural residents in general and those in the farming, fishing, forestry and logging industries in particular. Though previous studies have shown these populations are at a higher risk of suicide, the authors of this study believe poor sampling and the relative rarity of suicide may have skewed the numbers. 

Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Kentucky analyzed 29 years worth of data from the National Center for Health Statistics' Mortality-Linked National Health Interview Survey. Here are some of the key takeaways they found:

• The age-adjusted suicide mortality rate per 100,000 people was 22.3 for farmers and farm managers; 28.7 for those in the farming, forestry and fishing industries overall; 15.3 across all other occupations; and 16.1 among rural residents in general.
• The overall age-adjusted rate for farmworkers was 21.6. It was 28.3 among rural farmworkers and 17.1 for city-dwelling farmworkers.
• Age-adjusted results show that forestry and fishing workers have a higher suicide risk than all other occupations. 

The researchers note that the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries employ about 2.3 million Americans, and that they are among the nation's lowest-paid workers, with a median annual salary of about $27,000. Low socioeconomic status is linked with increased suicide rates, possibly contributing to the elevated risk among such workers, they wrote. 

Notably, the study includes data from 1986 through 2017. But over the past few years, poor agricultural conditions and the pandemic have worsened mental health and suicide rates among farmers and rural residents.