LESOTHO HIGHEST SUICIDE RATE IN THE WORLD

New research shows that Lesotho has the highest suicide rate in the entire world.

The research was done by Our World In Data and from 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the research, Lesotho had 87.5 deaths per 100,000 people.

 

The other southern African countries were:

Eswatini (Swaziland) with 40.5

Zimbabwe with 23.6

South Africa with 23.5

 

Nigeria has the highest number of suicide deaths by use of firearms on the continent. The African country following that is South Africa with 397 deaths, the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 395, Ethiopia with 340, and Tanzania with 203.

News24 reports that according to Our World In Data, the major contributing factors for suicide included “differences in underlying mental health and treatment, personal and financial stress, restrictions on the means of suicide, (as well as) recognition and awareness of suicide”.

The data shows that South African men were 4.1 times more likely to die by suicide than women. In Mozambique, men were 5.1 times more likely to do so than women.

Image credit: The Star