ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Hundreds of Iraqis have committed suicide in the current year as Iraq sees a concerning rise in suicide rates, an official said on Saturday.
“The number of registered suicides in 2021 is 772, which is about 100 more cases than last year,” state media quoted Khalid al-Muhana, spokesperson for the Iraqi interior ministery as saying.
Six hundred and sixty three cases of suicide have been reported this year, he noted.
Factors contributing to the rise in suicides in Iraq include high crime rates and violence, financial challenges, legal issues, child abuse, neglect, and intimate partner problems.
Around 60 percent of those who have committed suicide were men while 45 percent of them were women, according to Muhana.
Iraq has been gripped by economic crisis exacerbated by a drop in oil prices and the global coronavirus pandemic, leaving many Iraqis unemployed.
Poverty accounts for 13 percent of the suicides and unemployment for around 35 percent of the reported cases.
Another suicide factor that has been reported in Iraq is a spike in incidences of domestic violence which has hit a spike since the pandemic. Around 20 percent of the suicide deaths account for housewives, reported the ministry.
Iraq’s Ministry of Interior formed a committee to look into the increase in suicidal deaths, Muhana noted.
The ministry, however, has made several recommendations that include strengthening psychological and support departments, providing more opportunities to the people to occupy their time and practice sports as well as other aspects of reform in Iraq, he added.
Suicide deaths in Iraq have shown an alarming rise year on year.
Six hundred and five suicide deaths were recorded in 2019 alone.
To combat suicide among young Iraqis, the health ministries of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq launched a helpline last year providing free confidential counseling in Arabic and Kurdish, with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and funding from Sweden.
