Dhaka, Dec 23 (IANS) Bangladesh has witnessed a sharp rise in suicide cases, with an average of 40 people dying by suicide every day across the country, local media reported on Tuesday.
The information was revealed on Monday by Additional Inspector General of Bangladesh Police (Crime), Md Ashraful Islam, at an event held at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research (ICDDRB) in Dhaka.
According to the senior police official, Jashore records the highest number of suicide cases among the districts in Bangladesh.
The event, jointly organised by ICDDRB, the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and the World Health Organisation (WHO), focused on discussions around the draft Bangladesh National Suicide Prevention Plan, leading Bangladeshi daily Prothom Alo reported.
While public health experts and researchers largely depend on suicide-related data provided by the WHO, several speakers at the event noted that, despite growing discussion on the issue, there is a lack of meaningful prevention efforts in the country.
Addressing the event, Mahbubur Rahman, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, said that effective suicide prevention cannot be achieved through isolated efforts.
He emphasised the need for coordinated action across multiple ministries, including health, agriculture, home affairs, education, religious affairs, and information ministries, as well as other stakeholders.
Police said that the suicide figures in the country exceed WHO estimates, citing law enforcement agencies’ records of suicide related unnatural deaths.
Additional Inspector General Ashraful Islam provided nationwide data on “suicide-related unnatural deaths” spanning from 2020 to 2024 and January to October of this year.
According to the data, 73,597 people died by suicide in the country between 2020 and 2024 — an average of 14,719 suicides annually, or about 40 suicides a day.
Meanwhile, a total of 12,335 suicide cases were recorded from January to October 2025, with the daily average of roughly 41 cases — slightly higher than in previous years.
Police records classify suicide methods into several categories, including hanging, poisoning, self-immolation, jumping in front of trains, and others, with hanging emerging as the most common method, followed by poisoning.
Among Bangladesh’s 64 districts, Jashore reported the highest number of suicide-related unnatural death cases, with 1,454cases recorded between October 2022 and October 2025. Dhaka district followed with 1,402 cases, while Cumilla recorded 1,288 cases during the same period.
–IANS
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