The number of people committing suicide in Greece has risen by a third after the government adopted austerity measures in June 2011, a new study shows.

Suicides in the debt-ridden country increased 35.7 percent following the implementation of the austerity program in comparison with the previous months, according to the study published in the medical Journal BMJ Open on Monday. 

“Suicides closely followed the announcements of specific government economic programs in Greece, and grew to their highest levels in 2012 as economic austerity measures and public outcries accumulated in number and scale,” senior study author Charles Branas said.

The research also found that suicides among men rose 13 percent in October 2008, when the Greek economy entered a recession. 

However, there was a sudden, but brief, 27 percent fall in suicide rates among men in Greece when the euro was launched in the country in January 2002.

“Tragically, the impact of austerity measures on suicides is more significant and lasting than prosperity-related events, such as the launch of the euro in Greece, and appears to affect both men and women, though the trend is more pronounced in men,” Branas noted.

Greece has been at the epicenter of the eurozone debt crisis. It has been relying on international rescue loans since 2010. In exchange for its international loans, Athens has implemented harsh austerity programs that have caused mounting dissatisfaction in the country.

One in every four Greek workers is currently unemployed, banks are in a shaky position, and pensions and salaries have been slashed by about 40 percent. Greek youths have also been badly affected, and more than half of them are jobless.