Monthly Suicide Rates During the COVID-19 Pandemic : Evidence from Japan

I use 2018-2020 prefecture-month-year level and gender-month-year level data on suicide rates in Japan to document how suicide rates are evolving during the COVID-19 pandemic. I use a monthly event study design to study changes in suicide rates surrounding Japan’s COVID-19 state of emergency and to trace out monthly changes in suicide rates during the first 11 months of 2020 relative to 2018-2019. I find that monthly suicide rates during the pandemic started increasing meaningfully in June-July. October exhibits the highest change in suicide rates for women. I also find that women experienced higher changes in suicide rates, relative to their 2018-2019 average suicide rate, when I compare men and women