"Concerning suicide rates, this is the one indicator of societal health in which religious nations fare much better than secular nations. According to the 2003 World Health Organization's report on international male suicides rates (which compared 100 countries), of the top ten nations with the highest male suicide rates, all but one (Sri Lanka) are strongly irreligious nations with high levels of atheism. It is interesting to note, however, that of the top remaining nine nations leading the world in male suicide rates, all are former Soviet/Communist nations, such as Belarus, Ukraine, and Latvia. Of the bottom ten nations with the lowest male suicide rates, all are highly religious nations with statistically insignificant levels of organic atheism."<ref>http://www.adherents.com/misc/religion_suicide.html</ref>}}
In 2002, the [[China|People's Republic of China]], which has [[state atheism]], had the highest suicide rate (25.6 per 100,000 persons).<ref>Bertolote JM, Fleischmann A (2002). "[https://web.archive.org/web/20210118061959/https://www.iasp.info/pdf/papers/Bertolote.pdf A Global Perspective in the Epidemiology of Suicide]" (PDF).</ref>
Concerning [[atheism and depression]], a University of Michigan study involving 19,775 individuals found that religious people are less likely than atheists to suffer [[depression]] when they are lonely.<ref>[https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6136603/Lonely-religious-people-depressed-God-friend.html Lonely religious people are less depressed than atheists because they see God as a friend replacement, study finds], ''Daily Mail'', 2018</ref> See also: [[Atheism and loneliness]]