Suicide in Teenagers and Its Related Determinants in Developing Countries

Fourteen years old male student of eight grades in one of government high school in KPK committed suicide after being bullied at home and school due to lack of interest in his studies.” This news was published in Dawn News Paper, June 07, 2013. Pakistan is developing country, population is approximately 162 million, and constitutes about 97 percent being Muslims (Khan, 2007). Moreover, suicide is condemned act in Islam and incidences of suicides were low in past, but literature suggests that in recent years incidences of teenage suicide have been increased in Pakistan; that might be due to a high occurrence rate of deliberate self-harm and suicide (Shahid & Hyder, 2008). Hence, suicide has become a major public health issue in Pakistan. There are no official national data available on suicide and also the deaths are not included in the annual mortality statistics. From available resources, it shows that majority of suicides committed by young people, included both gender. Every year about one million people commit suicide worldwide, which results in a global suicide rate of 16 per 100,000 populations (World Health Organization, 2009). Hence, suicide is a significant public health problem globally. Suicide is a complex phenomenon which involves social, cultural, biological, psychological and environmental factors. According to Khan (2005) in Pakistan approximately 30,000 to 60,000 deliberate self-harm events occur annually.