The report also suggests that in poor countries, where investments in active labour market programmes are much lower or virtually non-existent, the death toll brought on by the financial meltdown would be much worse.

The researchers studied mortality rates for over 30 causes of death from the World Health Organisation's database between the years 1970 and 2007.

They then compared the results to unemployment data from the International Labour Organisation, and data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development describing different types of government social programme expenditures during the same period.

In Britain, where currently about $150 per head per year is spent on active labour market programmes, researchers estimated that at least 25 to 290 suicides would occur as a direct result of the financial crisis, said a LSHTM release.

The report was published in the Wednesday issue of The Lancet.