Suicide has been among the top two causes of death among India’s youth — that too for the last two decades. This worrying dataset, which came to light on the basis of an analysis on the causes of death, also shows that one in every six deaths among people aged between 15-29 years between 2020-2022 could be attributed to suicide. While more young women had killed themselves than men during this time period, the gap is closing. The National Crime Records Bureau data bear similar grim tidings: India’s suicide rate has increased to 12.4 people per 1,00,000, the highest rate ever recorded in the country. The global trend is also consistent with these worrying findings in India. Every 40 seconds, the world loses a person to suicide. This adds up to over 7,27,000 deaths a year, according to the latest data from the World Health Organization. While 73% of suicides were reported from low- and middle-income countries where mental healthcare facilities are inadequate, even a country like the United States of America, with a comparatively better edifice of care for mental health, showed an alarming increase of 17% in suicide rates. India’s National Suicide Prevention Strategy, which seeks to cut suicide mortality by 10% by 2030, has a discernible tilt towards clinical intervention to deal with suicide. Helplines, psychological counselling, and psychiatric care are, of course, indispensable. But ignoring the structural conditions that are relevant to suicide, in India and around the world, could be fatal. The WHO data make some pertinent points in this regard. In India, domestic violence, caste-based harassment, debt, and academic pressure are the leading drivers of suicide; in the US, firearms and untreated mental illness are key contributors; in Japan and South Korea, overwork and social withdrawal are closely linked to suicide deaths; while among refugee populations and indigenous groups worldwide, displacement and discrimination amplify risk. The conditions differ, but the pattern remains the same: where systemic injustice and inequalities exist, suicide risk rises.
Putting in place a robust clinical apparatus to tackle suicide must thus be accompanied by such measures as socio-economic protection schemes to alleviate privation and economic hardship, anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies in schools, workplaces, and digital spaces, gender equity laws to deal with domestic violence and abuse as well as means to make mental healthcare affordable. The prejudice associated with mental ailments must be tackled simultaneously. These, along with an empathetic culture, can make a difference between death and life.