‘One million kill themselves a year’

One million people die by their own hand each year, accounting for more deaths than wars and murders put together, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

“Data from the WHO indicate that approximately one million people worldwide die by suicide each year. This corresponds to one death by suicide every 40 seconds,” it said in a report launched ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day on Monday. And while the number of deaths by suicide is staggering, the number of attempts each year is 20 times higher, the WHO said, pointing out that 5 percent of people in the world try to kill themselves at least once during their lifetime.

And the problem is getting worse, it said, insisting that “given the magnitude of the public health problem of suicidal behaviours”, urgent action was needed.

According to Dr Shekhar Saxena, who headed the team behind the report, suicide rates have risen sharply in some parts of the world in recent years, with some countries seeing their rates jump by as much as 60 percent.

“Although suicide continues to remain a serious problem in high-income countries, it is the low and middle-income countries that bear the larger part of the global suicide burden.”

The highest documented suicide rates can be found in Eastern European countries, while they are lowest in Latin America.

Globally, suicide is the second cause of death worldwide among 15 to 19-year-olds, with at least 100 000 adolescents killing themselves each year.

Among adults, the suicide rate is highest among those aged 75 and older.

– Sapa-AFP-IOL