Divergent Effects of Heaven and Hell Beliefs on National Suicide Mortality

Belief in a caring God and in a punitive afterlife (Heaven and Hell) is observed across diverse cultural and religious contexts. Yet it remains unclear whether these beliefs are differently associated with suicide mortality.

In the present study, we combined data from the World Values Survey (over 73,834 individuals in 57 countries) with age-standardized suicide mortality from the World Health Organization to evaluate whether national levels of belief in God, importance of God, belief in Heaven, belief in Hell, and religious attendance were associated with lower suicide mortality.

In separate analyses, each belief measure and attendance were associated with lower suicide mortality, even after controlling for the per capita availability of psychiatrists and psychologists. However, when economic factors (GDP per capita, income inequality, and unemployment) were included, only the reported importance of God and belief in Heaven remained statistically significant. In contrast, belief in God, belief in Hell, and religious attendance showed attenuated or nonsignificant associations.

These findings suggest that both belief in Heaven and the perceived importance of God are associated with lower national suicide mortality, highlighting potentially relevant dimensions of religiosity that may inform culturally sensitive public-health strategies.