The 10 countries with the highest suicide rate in the world have a serious problem on their hands in need to be acknowledged and eradicated. Many questions are left unanswered when a loved one commits suicide. Why? Could I have done anything to help? Is it my fault? Nothing can be more powerful at triggering guilty than not being there to stop someone from taking their own life. So what are the main reasons why some countries have higher suicide rates than others, and what are the 10 countries with the highest suicide rate in the world?
People will often say that anyone who commits suicide is extremely selfish, as they are not only throwing their life away but they are also causing great grief to their families and friends. That’s one way of seeing it, but do we have the right to judge someone for choosing this difficult path? It’s important to keep in mind that eventhough the ones left behind will suffer with the loss, the person who is taking this action must be suffering even more.
There are many factors that might contribute to such a sad decision such as unemployment, financial and emotional stress. So being aware of the problems a country is going through such as in this article of the 10 Countries with the highest suicide rates in the world: 2015 rankings can shed some light on why young people are taking their own lives.
But since there are a myriad of reasons why people commit suicide, it’s also important to note that the act cannot be only ranked according to what caused a person to go that far, since interpreting it this way can be entirely subjective.
People deal with different challenges on a daily basis, so one person may get over a broken heart quickly while others could lose their will to live if they can’t be with the person who is the object of their affection.
Also, to label some reasons to be less important than others can be one of the factors which contributes to depression in first place. It trivializes not only the reasons why they feel the way they do, but the person as well, who they are, what drives them and how they are being affected by their environment.
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Studies shows that a person commits suicide every 16.2 minutes. In the time you read this article, a person will have killed themselves due to reasons we can’t even fathom. Considering the fact that older people are more prone to killing themselves, it is also true that younger people think and plan the task more often. Stats shows that young people are affected a lot, 160,000 under the age of 25 kill themselves annually. This is the second biggest killer of young people worldwide. And of course the first question in mind is why do they do that. And also, if these numbers can be different from country to country, and which are the countries with the highest youth suicide rates in the world?
In the US, the suicide rate for youth has increased nearly threefold in 50 years. One of the reasons could be the high pressure most have to deal with the present and its pressure. The need to succeed is and competitively appears to be in all facets of life from education, to proffesioanl careers to personal relationship. People are being judge constantly for their achievement and rate of success. Having to deal with expectations can lead to breakdowns and feeling inadequate in our society. Suicide rates might be higher in some places than other as shown in this list of the 10 Countries With the Highest Suicide Rates in the World.
The way I talk makes it seem like I am using depression and suicide interchangeably but there is a reason for this. Most people who decide that death is the only answer are typically depressed. In fact, depression is considered to be the leading cause of suicide, which makes me wonder how many deaths could be avoided if the stigma associated with mental illness is removed and such illnesses are better treated globally?
If you are curious about the countries with the highest youth suicide rate in the world, let me explain the methodology we used. We visited the World Health Organization website selecting all the countries in which statistics were available. Then we selected the ages between 15-25, as that is what we considered to be called youth age. We then selected all deaths caused by intentional self-harm, and calculated the total deaths per country.
However, since we are looking into the 10 countries with the highest youth suicide rates in the world, considering only the total deaths per country alone would not result in an accurate ranking. After all, if 1,000 people commit suicide in a population of 10,000 and 10,000 people commit suicide in a population of 100 million, the former would rank higher. Hence, we also determined the suicide per capita by dividing the total deaths by suicide with the total population, which we also traced from the World Health Organization. And we ended up with this list of the 10 countries with the highest suicide rate in the world:
8. Lithuania
Total suicides by youth in the country: 105
Ranking for total suicides: 24
Suicide per capita in the country: 368 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 2
Insider Monkey score: 7
You would think Lithuania would be a wonderful country to reside in, with top notch facilities and a high standard of living. However, the country also has an extremely high suicide rate and in 2009 was ranked on the top of the global rate for this category. It’s ranked last on our list of countries with the highest suicide rate in the world, however. The rate was an incredible 11 times greater than that of Greece, which itself suffered from an economic collapse, which could have contributed to the increase in suicide rates on that country. It’s safe to say that financial crisis can be attributed as one of the main causes behind higher suicides rates.
8. Ecuador
Total suicides by youth in the country: 287
Ranking for total suicides: 14
Suicide per capita in the country: 175.15 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 12
Insider Monkey score: 7
Hanging and poisoning are the methods most common for suicides in Ecuador the next entry on our list of countries with the highest suicide rate in the world, where suicide rates are increasing even though it is estimated that many cases are under-reported.
8. Chile
Total suicides by youth in the country: 317
Ranking for total suicides: 13
Suicide per capita in the country: 174.83 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 13
Insider Monkey score: 7
The suicide rates in Chile, the next in line of countries with the highest suicide rate in the world, among the young population are increasing drastically, especially among the men in the rural areas of the country, generally because of unemployment.
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8. Japan
Total suicides by youth in the country: 1,712
Ranking for total suicides: 4
Suicide per capita in the country: 135.52 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 22
Insider Monkey score: 7
Suicide in Japan is one of the biggest issues in the country, despite the fact that the rate is declining nowadays. Unemployment and pressure in the society are one of the biggest factors in suicide here. Furthermore, the culture prefers honor over life, and many people take their own lives when they believe they have dishonored their family or even themselves.
7. Paraguay
Total suicides by youth in the country: 164
Ranking for total suicides: 19
Suicide per capita in the country: 243.85 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 6
Insider Monkey score: 7.5
In Paraguay, next on our list of countries with the highest suicide rate in the world, men commit more suicide than women, and it is one of the few countries where the younger population commit suicide more often than the adult population.
6. Poland
Total suicides by youth in the country: 611
Ranking for total suicides: 7
Suicide per capita in the country: 158.32 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 17
Insider Monkey score: 8
It is hard gathering data for Poland as official statistics are rarely available, which seems to be an intentional denial of the fact that the suicide rate has been increasing significantly especially in recent years. Let’s see what’s comes next on the list of countries with the highest suicide rate in the world.
5. Mexico
Total suicides by youth in the country: 1,988
Ranking for total suicides: 2
Suicide per capita in the country: 154.55 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 20
Insider Monkey score: 9
Men disproportionately commit more suicide in the country, at a rate which is many times greater than that of women, which is why we put this country on the countries with the highest suicide rate in the world list.
4. United States of America
Total suicides by youth in the country: 5,495
Ranking for total suicides: 1
Suicide per capita in the country: 169.53 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 14
Insider Monkey score: 12.5
What makes the United State’s high ranking on the list of 11 countries with the highest suicide rate in the world even direr is the fact that it’s actually the older population which is more likely to commit suicide. Bullying is one of the most common causes of suicide among the youth and while the government has tried to take steps to prevent this from happening, it has not been able to meet with much success.
While homicides have fallen in the country, suicides have increased significantly. Another reason for suicides is education pressure, with student loans increasing significantly, while the pressure to get into a great university has also steadily increased. Furthermore, the minimum wage, which people working part time generally earn, is no longer enough to manage a decent living, and all these issues have added up to make for morbid reading.
3. Argentina
Total suicides by youth in the country: 1,011
Ranking for total suicides: 5
Suicide per capita in the country: 230.57 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 8
Insider Monkey score: 13.5
In 2010, 8 people committed suicide every day on average, and this has only worsened with time. Due to the poor economic status of the country, suicide is a common way of escaping the situation. Suicides are most common in the poorer provinces with some reporting an increase of over 300 percent from just 1998-2008. Now, let’s see the top two on our list of countries with the highest suicide rate in the world.
2. Kazakhstan
Total suicides by youth in the country: 541
Ranking for total suicides: 9
Suicide per capita in the country: 302.99 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 3
Insider Monkey score: 14
In 2011, the WHO reported that of the total people who committed suicide globally, over 3 percent belonged to Kazakhstan. Furthermore, the country actually topped the list of girls in the age group of 15-19, with bullying being a major issue in this regard.
1. Uzbekistan
Total suicides by youth in the country: 796
Ranking for total suicides: 6
Suicide per capita in the country: 262.7 per 10,000,000 people
Ranking for suicide per capita: 5
Insider Monkey score: 14.5
Uzbekistan has a suicide problem on its hand, which is why it tops the list of 10 countries with the highest suicide rate in the world. Many women in the country attempt suicide, often through self-immolation, mainly due to abusive situations prevalent in the country.
