Publication:

Prevalence of suicide over a decade in Nepal

Background When developing suicide prevention strategies and programs, accurate data on suicide deaths, method and its pattern is crucial. There is still a lack of information on the techniques used and their variance across the nations. This study described the pattern of suicidal deaths and the suicide rates in Nepal.

Methods We conducted a review of records of suicide data in Nepal from 2009 to 2020 to determine the pattern of suicidal deaths in Nepal. This study includes a sample size of 42,136 suicidal deaths. For statistical analysis, R software version 4.0 was used. Parametric numerical variables were presented with mean and standard deviation, whereas categorical variables were presented as frequency and percentage.

Results From April 2009 to March 2020, a total of 42,136 suicidal deaths were recorded in Nepal. The mean age of suicide victims was 43.4 years, and the majority were male (45.7%). The average yearly suicide rate in Nepal was found to be 14.8 per 100,000 people. Hanging (69.5%) was the common method and depression (31.1%), becoming the leading causes of suicide. Suicidal attempts were found to be highest in the morning (58.4%) from 5 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Conclusions The average rate of suicide was high in comparison with other countries in Southeast Asia. The increase in the rate was mostly after a major geographical, economic, political, or health disaster. Given the importance of policies in determining a country's progress, it's time to consider suicide as a "sleeping pandemic.