Iraq: Why is the number of suicides increasing among youth in 2022?

The deteriorating economic and social conditions in Iraq have led to a blockage of the horizons of the young generation, which has raised suicide rates amid the silence of the Iraqi authorities.

According to experts and analysts, this phenomenon witnessed a significant increase after 2003. Last Thursday, the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq announced that the country had recorded the highest suicide rates in the past year, with an average of two suicides per day. 

In a statement, the center's media office quoted the deputy head of the center, lawyer Hazem Al-Rudaini, as saying, “Iraq recorded about 772 cases during the year 2021, at an average of two suicides per day, while 700 cases were recorded during the year 2022 so far.”

The center confirmed that 663 cases were recorded in 2020, compared to 605 cases in 2019, 530 cases in 2018, 462 cases in 2017, and 393 cases in 2016.

The center identified three reasons behind the spread of suicides. According to Al-Rudaini, “the increase in this phenomenon is due to the spread of drugs, domestic violence, and unemployment.” He pointed out that “70% of the cases are under the age of 30, and most of them do not have any educational attainment.”

Al-Rudaini called on “the government to address the causes that led to the spread of this extraneous phenomenon in Iraqi society by eliminating drugs, addressing unemployment, and expediting the legislation of the Domestic Violence Law.”

Reasons and motives

Speaking to Jusoor Post, Iraqi sociologist and researcher Salih Abdul-Karim said, “In order not to mislead ourselves, the number of suicides in Iraq needs real treatment and a review of the main causes and factors that push people to commit suicide. The reasons for its increase, especially among young people, must also be studied.”

Regarding the reasons that drive young people to commit suicide, the Iraqi researcher explained that “the economic conditions, despair of improving living conditions, unemployment, and lack of job opportunities, all of these reasons can be addressed, which will reflect positively on people's conditions and increase their love for life by creating a justification that pushes them to cling to life more.”

He pointed out that “there are purely mental and psychological causes that can be controlled by establishing rehabilitation centers for psychiatric patients who have suicidal tendencies or have made a failed suicide attempt in the past.”

Abdul-Karim believes that “social restrictions and what is published on social media have an impact on increasing suicides all over the world, not just in Iraq.”

The researcher criticized the results of this study and the mechanism on which the center relied in arriving at the statistics.“Not all statistics are correct, and most of them cannot be trusted, nor on what basis were they based, and how they were compared with different countries of the world that do not give accurate statistics,” he said.

He added, “But every lost life is a great loss. Even if the statistics are exaggerated, they should serve as an alert to government institutions to find out their reasons.”

For his part, Iraqi international economics professor YassinQusay agreed with Abdul-Karim that the increase in the phenomenon of suicide has economic motives behind it.

Qusay told Jusoor Post, “The reasons for suicide are numerous, including economic ones represented by unemployment, in addition to violence, family disintegration, and drugs, as well as online extortion, especially among girls. These cases are studied by specialists in sociology and psychology.”

He pointed out that everyone knows that unemployment and poverty are two main factors for suicide, as about 30% of the population suffers from unemployment, while the poverty rate exceeds 31.7%, according to statistics from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning. Evidence for this is that suicides are increasing in the southern governorates of Iraq because they are the most affected by the poor economic conditions, according to Qusay.

He continued, “It is true that there is also an important role for the tribal aspect and the social character, but the official statistics of the Ministry of Planning say that the governorates of central and southern Iraq suffer from large poverty rates, as almost half of the population lives below the poverty line.”

Improving the economic situation is the solution

As for the possible solutions, Qusay said that addressing the problem of unemployment is not impossible in a country rich in oil resources and economic potential such as Iraq. However, he made clear the need for a national will and proper planning.

Qusay indicated that the recent pressures may prompt the new government to search for innovative solutions to address the problem of unemployment in its various dimensions.

One of those solutions is opening labor offices in all governorates, with the aim of recording accurate statistics so that the government has an accurate picture of these unemployed people to know which job sector should be opened, according to the economics professor.

He stressed the need to provide loans to establish medium and small projects or to grant unemployed loans by activating the Central Bank's youth lending initiative.

For his part, Abdul-Karim called for a review of the educational system in Iraq and the requirements of the labor market, as well as limiting the flow of imported products that led to the closure of many national factories.

The sociology professor also stressed the need for the Iraqi government to focus on infrastructure projects due to its role in accelerating construction and reconstruction, in addition to controlling the large influx of foreign labor through legal legislation and administrative controls.

He also referred to the necessity of addressing the Social Security, Social Protection, and Health Care Laws,as well as activating training and rehabilitation programs for the unemployed.