WANA (Nov 18) – Some reformist members within Iran and opposition groups outside the country are attempting to portray suicide as a crisis in Iran. Jawad Imam, spokesperson for the Reform Front, claimed in a tweet: “It seems that suicide has turned into a social crisis that should be addressed at higher levels.”

 

According to the official website of the World Health Organization (WHO), countries like Russia, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Japan, Slovenia, Belgium, Suriname, Guyana, and others have suicide rates higher than 25 per 100,000 people, ranking them at the top of global suicide statistics.

 

Based on WHO data, countries in West Asia, including Syria, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Palestine, Oman, Jordan, and Lebanon, have suicide rates of fewer than 5 per 100,000 people, placing them at the lower end of global suicide statistics.

 

According to the WHO website, if a country’s suicide rate exceeds 15 to 20 per 100,000 people, it is considered a concerning and critical situation, requiring urgent and serious measures in the areas of suicide prevention and mental health care.

During significant events, such as the suicide of well-known individuals, even if the suicide rate in a country is low, society may perceive the situation as critical due to the sensitivity towards the deceased. However, such perceptions do not necessarily mean that the suicide situation in the country is truly critical.

 

According to the World Health Organization’s statistics, Iran ranks at the lower end of suicide rates and is not even close to a critical situation. Therefore, the claims by opponents of the Islamic Republic regarding a suicide crisis in Iran are considered misleading.

 

Based on the latest available statistics, with a population of 91,867,816 people, Iran’s suicide rate is 4.34 per 100,000 people, ranking it among the lowest of 204 countries, indicating that the suicide rate in Iran is very minimal compared to other countries.