The Iranian Sociological Association has announced a drastic rise in the rate of suicide in the country, saying an average of 15 people kill themselves in Iran every day. 

In a conference on Thursday, held two days before the World Suicide Prevention Day, sociology professor Akbar Aliverdinia said that the rate of suicide has increased about 44 percent in the past 20 years. 

He said, in 2001 the number was about four people in every 100,000 per year but currently the figure is over six, describing the rise as shocking. This brings the number annual total for suicides to over 5,000. In comparison, Turkey has an average of 2.5 suicides per 100,000 population.

Aliverdinia added that the data provided by the Iranian Legal Medicine Organization do not express the realities of the society properly because they only measure suicides that lead to death, while the number of attempted suicides is usually 20 times more. 

According to the data released by Iran’s Health Ministry, in the Iranian year 1399 (which ended on March 19, 2021) 100,000 people attempted suicide in the country. The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization says 5,542 people died as a result of suicide in that year.

Most of the people who commit suicide in Iran are married men and from the western provinces of the country, where economic woes are prevalent. There is also a significant correlation between the misery index and number of suicides which are both increasing in the Islamic Republic. 

Amid a dire economic situation, worsening in recent months, over a dozen people committed suicide in the last three months due to dismissal from their jobs and "livelihood problems".