NEW DELHI: India has seen a more than 30 per cent reduction in the suicide death rate in India from 1990 to 2021, according to a study published in The Lancet Public Health on Thursday, marking a significant progress in health strategies.
The analysis, based on the results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021, showed that 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 reduction in death rates by suicide 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.
On the other hand, 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.
Globally, the study showed about 740, 000 suicides are reported annually, in other words, one person dies on average every 43 seconds by suicide.
However, in the last three decades, the global age-standardised mortality rate for suicide has declined by nearly 40 per cent -- from about 15 deaths per lakh population to 9 deaths per lakh population. This indicates that intervention and prevention strategies are working.
For females, the rate declined by more than 50 per cent, while it declined by almost 34 per cent for males. Overall, the mortality rate for suicide was 12.8 per lakh population for males and 5.4 per lakh population for females.
"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.