Society
‘Deaths of Despair’ Worsen Among Americans Lacking College Degrees
- Suicide, despair higher among those without degree: new study
- Pandemic likely increased deaths from opioid overdoses
Photographer: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
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In the U.S., a four-year degree is increasingly a “talisman” against deaths related to suicide and economic hardship, according to a new research paper that offers a stark verdict on the current economy.
While the suicide rate almost doubled among White non-Hispanics without a bachelor’s degree in the 1992-2019 period to about 31 per 100,000 people, there was almost no increase among those with a degree, economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton wrote in their September paper. Covid-19 likely exacerbated deaths of despair from opioid overdoses -- already increasing pre-pandemic -- as people grew more isolated and more fentanyl showed up in other drugs.