A new study has revealed that India has witnessed a dip of 30 percent in the suicide death rate in India from 1990 to 2021. This dip was observed on the basis of the results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021.
According to the study, the suicide death rate in India was 18.9 per lakh population in 1990, in 2019 it stood at 13·1 lakh per lakh population and 13 per lakh population in 2021. From 1990 to 2021, the suicide death rate in India declined to 31·5 per cent.
The findings of the study were published in The Lancet Public Health journal on Thursday.
Interestingly, the dip was seen more in females than males. In 1990 suicide death rate among females stood at 16·8 per lakh population, which reduced to 10·3 per lakh population in 2021. Meanwhile, the suicide death rate among men in 1990 stood at 20·9 per lakh population, and it reduced to 15·7 per lakh population by 2021.
“In 2020, in India, the highest suicide death rates were among educated women, with family problems being the most commonly cited contributing factor,” said the researchers from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, US.
The study showed about 740,000 suicides are reported annually which means one person dies on average every 43 seconds by suicide.
“While the progress made in declining suicide rates is encouraging, it is clear that suicide continues to impact some countries and populations more than others. Removing suicide stigma and barriers to access mental health support systems remain critical measures, particularly among people with mental and substance abuse disorders,” said senior author Dr. Mohsen Naghavi with IHME.
The researchers maintain that the data shows that intervention and prevention strategies are working.