Suicide claims a life every 40 seconds

A death by suicide occurs every 40 seconds somewhere in the world, the World Health Organisation said in its first global report calling for more suicide prevention strategies.

Around three-quarters of those suicides occur in low- and middle-income countries, where self-poisoning by pesticide is the leading cause; other common methods include hanging and firearms, the WHO said.

Suicides of famous people such as comedian Robin Williams have called attention to risk factors such as depression. Still, while prevention strategies have been established in many high-income countries over the last decade, more need to be devised in the developing world, said Rory O’Connor, who leads the Suicidal Behaviour Research Laboratory at the University of Glasgow in Scotland.